They Clapped Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis
Rhyme Scheme: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOBPOBQ RSTUVWKXUYZU A2B2U| they clapped when we landed | A |
| thinking africa was just an extension | B |
| of the black world | C |
| they smiled as we taxied home to be met | D |
| black to black face not understanding africans lack | E |
| color prejudice | F |
| they rushed to declare | G |
| cigarettes money allegiance to the mother land | H |
| not knowing despite having read fanon and davenport | I |
| hearing all of j h clarke's lectures supporting | J |
| nkrumah in ghana and nigeria in the war that there was once | K |
| a tribe called afro americans that populated the whole | L |
| of africa | M |
| they stopped running when they learned the packages | N |
| on the women's heads were heavy and that babies didn't | O |
| cry and disease is uncomfortable and that villages are fun | B |
| only because you knew the feel of good leather on good | P |
| pavement | O |
| they cried when they saw mercedes benz were as common | B |
| in lagos as volkswagens are in berlin | Q |
| they shook their heads when they understood there was no | R |
| difference between the french and the english and the americans | S |
| and the afro americans or the tribe next door or the country | T |
| across the border | U |
| they were exasperated when they heard sly and the family stone | V |
| in francophone africa and they finally smiled when little boys | W |
| who spoke no western tongue said james brown with reverence | K |
| they brought out their cameras and bought out africa's drums | X |
| when they finally realized that they are strangers all over | U |
| and love is only and always about the lover not the beloved | Y |
| they marveled at the beauty of the people and the richness | Z |
| of the land knowing they could never possess either | U |
| - | |
| they clapped when they took off | A2 |
| for home despite the dead | B2 |
| dream they saw a free future | U |
Nikki Giovanni
(1)
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