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

Indigo Blues
Kemet Mawakana
04 Jun 2008
🖨️ Print Article

7_foot_poet_upright_250wide

by Kemit Mawakana (aka “The Seven-Foot Poet”)
 

Is it science fiction?

Is it past prediction?

He never confuses, our poet, he muses.


 

Indigo Blues

(Dedicated to ancestor Dr. Amos Wilson)

(the audio of this poem is temporarily unavailable)

It started benign enough with a financial gift

to help establish

a research facility

then the

announcement of the cloning of Dolly the sheep

then the

cloning of animal meat for human consumption

as time passed or as economic political strife grew

some institute

think tank

academic

bureaucrat

strategist

came up with the “brilliant”

idea

let’s clone a labor force

for our national betterment

to make the clones readily identifiable

they decided to make the clones’ skin tone blue

however after objective analysis and rational thought

the cost of indigo was cost prohibitive

so they scrapped the plan and settled on using you.

 

By Kemit Mawakana (aka The Seven-Foot Poet)

Peace (when appropriate) War (when necessary)

Copyright 2004.

Kemit Mawakana (aka “The Seven-Foot Poet”) is a highly acclaimed spoken-word artist, and has published two books A . . . Z . . . Infinity and Crucifixion of My Soul. The collective body of his works presented weekly in BAR 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) 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


  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    DOCUMENT: Resolutions Passed by the Caribbean Anti-Imperialist Conference, Georgetown, Guyana, 1972
    04 Feb 2026
    “...this Caribbean Anti-Imperialist Conference..resolves..to work steadfastly for a democratic, anti-imperialist Caribbean union.”
  • Michael Parenti
    Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Michael Parenti: The War on Drugs Is a Cover for Imperialism and the CIA’s Own Drug Dealing
    04 Feb 2026
    Michael Parenti's legacy is clarity. He taught that U.S. policies like the drug war are successful strategies for maintaining power and profit.
  • Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
    Minnesota 9 — now say their names: pastor, lawyer, journalists and resistance leaders
    04 Feb 2026
    "Minnesota 9 — now say their names: pastor, lawyer, journalists and resistance leaders" is the latest from BAR's Poet-in-Residence.
  • Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Marisa Solomon’s Book, “The Elsewhere Is Black”
    04 Feb 2026
    In this series, we ask acclaimed authors to answer five questions about their book. This week’s featured author is Marisa Solomon. Solomon is Assistant Professor of Women’s, Gender, and…
  • Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright
    The EPA’s Zero Sum Game Surfaces a Dialectical Paradox That Should Be Celebrated, Not Decried
    04 Feb 2026
    The debate over the EPA's new math misses the point. The agency hasn't changed its values, it has simply stopped pretending to account for communities it was never built to protect.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us