Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Opportunity’s Autumn Burial
Bill Quigley
08 Oct 2008
🖨️ Print Article

Opportunity’s Autumn Burial

by  Kemet Mawakana

 

Click the flash player below to hear this work performed by the Seven Foot Poet

{mp3}poetry/104_7ft_autumn{/mp3}

 

If leaves could fly

 

          Would they fall prey to the wind

 

                   Accept their fate and simply give in?

 

 

If leaves could fly

 

          Would they have already left

 

                   Or remain beholden to branches that promise freedom

 

The week after next?

 

If leaves could fly

 

          Would they remember

 

                   Those before them that died in past Septembers?

 

 

If leaves could fly

 

          Would the reminisce

 

                   On days of hanging onto hopes of false bliss?

 

 

So I leave you now with one thought left

 

          If leaves don’t try to fly

 

                   The fall brings certain death.

 

 

 

By Kemit Mawakana (aka The Seven-Foot Poet)

Peace (when appropriate) War (when necessary)

                             Copyright 1996.

 

Kemit Mawakana (aka “The Seven-Foot Poet”) is a highly acclaimed spoken-word artist, and has published two books A . . . Z . . . InfinityCrucifixion of My Soul.  The collective body of his works presented in www.blackagendareport.com and www.voxunion.com are in tribute to Listervelt Middleton, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, and “For The People”.  Currently, he is a facilitator at AYA Educational Institute (www.ayaed.com) in Atlanta, Georgia and can be reached at sevenfootpoet@gmail.com.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Black Politics in San Francisco, Part 2
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Black Politics in San Francisco, Part 2
    16 Sep 2022
    Jemma Decristo is a community organizer in San Francisco, where a Black mayor, London Breed, continues neo-liberal and pro-police policies and where gentrification and displacement continue. She…
  • FBI Surveillance of Aretha Franklin
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    FBI Surveillance of Aretha Franklin
    16 Sep 2022
    Afeni is a community organizer and writer who is co-authoring an article soon to appear in Rolling Stone about FBI surveillance of Aretha Franklin. Afeni is joining us from Washington DC.
  • The U.S. Instigates Conflict in the Horn of Africa
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    The U.S. Instigates Conflict in the Horn of Africa
    16 Sep 2022
    Thomas C. Mountain is an historian and educator known as a widely published independent journalist in Africa. He explains U.S. interference against Ethiopia and Eritrea and how the TPLF, Tigray…
  • Decolonizing the Mind
    Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Decolonizing the Mind
    14 Sep 2022
    The word decolonization should not be treated as trendy slang. It describes an important political and psychological process. Media and state attempts at indoctrination show just how…
  • ESSAY: Behind the Mau Mau: George Padmore, 1953
    Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: Behind the Mau Mau: George Padmore, 1953
    14 Sep 2022
    George Padmore’s account of British rule and Black resistance in Kenya reminds us that “Queen” Elizabeth is both the symbol and beneficiary of the savagery of colonialism and white supremacy.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us