Lots of people noticed when poet Amiri Baraka finally awoke from his Obamaphilic trance last week. Raymond Nathaniel Turner, impresario of Oakland’s Upsrurge jazz Ensemble, offer’s this poetic answer to Baraka’s question, \u201c…When will you learn, poet, and remember so you know it…\u201d?<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
Poet, when didn\u2019t you know it?
\nIceberg made his bones first day on the job,
\nWhackin\u2019 a couple Somalis\u2014called them pirates.<\/p>\n
Poet, when didn\u2019t you know it?
\nIceberg\u2019s brass-balled triangulation, juggling
\nThree wars, picking up a peace prize, torpedoing
\nCopenhagen with \u201cclean coal\u201d and nukes: priceless.<\/p>\n
Poet, when didn\u2019t you know it?
\nNeon signs in Guantanamo\u2019s windows flashing OPEN,
\nAs Slim\u2019s \u201csurges,\u201d and more drone strikes than eight
\nW years seem to scream, \u201cHey, Poet, judge me not by
\nThe color of my skin, but by content of my character!\u201d<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
You, snatching you from Iceberg Slim\u2019s grip\u2026
\nIn his Prison Poems, Ho Chi Minh said, the
\nPoet must also know how to lead an attack\u2014
\nHurry, Poet, hurry, I\u2019ve been waiting\u2026 for you!<\/p>\n
…<\/p>\n
More here.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Lots of people noticed when poet Amiri Baraka finally awoke from his Obamaphilic trance last week. Raymond Nathaniel Turner, impresario of Oakland’s Upsrurge jazz Ensemble, offer’s this poetic answer to Baraka’s question, \u201c…When will you learn, poet, and remember so you know it…\u201d? … Poet, when didn\u2019t you know it? Iceberg made his bones first … Continue reading When Didn’t You Know It, Poet? – A Black Poet Answers Amiri Baraka<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,15,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maraahmed.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2669"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maraahmed.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maraahmed.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maraahmed.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maraahmed.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2669"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maraahmed.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2669\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maraahmed.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maraahmed.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maraahmed.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}