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


  • The Editors
    Venezuela 2026: Black Agenda Report Special Issue
    07 Jan 2026
    Black Agenda Report Special Issue on Venezuela.
  • ​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist
    Venezuela, Even More Than Palestine, Is the Linchpin of a Consistent Radical Left in The Era of Global Neofascism Led by the U.S.
    07 Jan 2026
    Solidarity with Palestine tests morality, but solidarity with Venezuela tests politics. The recent U.S. intervention demands a radical left moving from moral outrage to a material confrontation with…
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: National Liberation: Categorical Imperative for the Peoples of Our Americas, Manuel Maldonado-Denis, 1982
    07 Jan 2026
    “The national independence struggles of the peoples of Our America have simultaneously been anti-imperialist struggles from Tupac Amaru up through our times.”
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    STOP the killers!
    07 Jan 2026
    "STOP the killers!" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • The Editors
    Black Agenda Report Venezuela Reading List
    07 Jan 2026
    Black Agenda Report contributors have focused analysis, reporting and interviews on Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution for many years. We hope that this list, which is not exhaustive of BAR’s coverage…
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us