- 1. The Mother
Abortions will not let you forget.
You remember the children you got that you did not get,
The damp small pulps with a little or with no hair,
The singers and workers that never handled the air.
...
- 2. The Sundays Of Satin-legs Smith
Inamoratas, with an approbation,
Bestowed his title. Blessed his inclination.
He wakes, unwinds, elaborately: a cat
...
- 3. The Sonnet-ballad
Oh mother, mother, where is happiness?
They took my lover's tallness off to war,
Left me lamenting. Now I cannot guess
What I can use an empty heart-cup for.
...
- 4. Of De Witt Williams On His Way To Lincoln Cemetery
He was born in Alabama.
He was bred in Illinois.
He was nothing but a
Plain black boy.
...
- 5. Truth
And if sun comes
How shall we greet him?
Shall we not dread him,
Shall we not fear him
...
- 6. The Blackstone Rangers
I
AS SEEN BY DISCIPLINES
...
- 7. Jessie Mitchell-s Mother
Into her motherâ??s bedroom to wash the ballooning body.
â??My mother is jelly-hearted and she has a brain of jelly:
Sweet, quiver-soft, irrelevant. Not essential.
Only a habit would cry if she should die.
...
- 8. The Sermon On The Warpland
â??The fact that we are black
is our ultimate reality.â?
â??Ron Karenga
...
- 9. A Sunset Of The City
Already I am no longer looked at with lechery or love.
My daughters and sons have put me away with marbles and dolls,
Are gone from the house.
My husband and lovers are pleasant or somewhat polite
...
