The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni (9 page)

BOOK: The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni
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I mean it's only natural that if

water seeks its own level

The honkie would not bother with

Viet Nam

It's unworthy of him

Cause they are not ready

for the revolutionary

advanced technology

that america is trying

to put on them

and nothing is worse

than a

dream deferred

It's just those simple

agrarian people

trying to invoke

simple land

reform

and maybe bring

a new level

of consciousness

to their people

And here america is

trying

to teach them

how to

read and

write

and be

capitalists

when it's fairly obvious

to the naked

untrained

eye

that they aren't

ready

for meaningful

change

and the revolution

is only

in the honkies'

mind

I mean

if it was me

I wouldn't

try to enlighten

those

slant-eyed

bastards

who only want

to sing and

dance

and be happy

all the time

I would have had enough fooling

around with niggers

I mean really

if I had at my

disposal

a means to get

out of this world

I'd go

and let those un

grateful

coloreds

try to get

along

without

me

in my younger years

before i learned

black people aren't

suppose to dream

i wanted to be

a raelet

and say “dr o wn d in my youn tears”

or “tal kin bout tal kin bout”

or marjorie hendricks and grind

all up against the mic

and scream

“baaaaaby nightandday

baaaaaby nightandday”

then as i grew and matured

i became more sensible

and decided i would

settle down

and just become

a sweet inspiration

you've just got to dig sly

and the family stone

damn the words

you gonna be dancing to the music

james brown can go to

viet nam

or sing about whatever he

has to

since he already told

the honkie

“although you happy you better try

to get along

money won't change you

but time is taking you on”

not to mention

doing a whole

song they can't even snap

their fingers to

“good god! ugh!”

talking bout

“i got the feeling baby i got the feeling”

and “hey everybody let me tell you the news”

martha and the vandellas dancing in the streets

while shorty long is functioning at that junction

yeah we hip to that

aretha said they better

think

but she already said

“ain't no way to love you”

(and you know she wasn't talking to us)

and dig the o'jays asking “must i always be a stand in

for love”

i mean they say “i'm a fool for being myself”

While the might mighty impressions have told the

world

for once and for all

“We're a Winner”

even our names—le roi has said—are together

impressions

temptations

supremes

delfonics

miracles

intruders (i mean intruders?)

not beatles and animals and white bad things like

young rascals and shit

we be digging all

our revolutionary music consciously or un

cause sam cooke said “a change is gonna come”

i wanta say just gotta say something

bout those beautiful beautiful beautiful outasight

black men

with they afros

walking down the street

is the same ol danger

but a brand new pleasure

sitting on stoops, in bars, going to offices

running numbers, watching for their whores

preaching in churches, driving their hogs

walking their dogs, winking at me

in their fire red, lime green, burnt orange

royal blue tight tight pants that hug

what i like to hug

jerry butler, wilson pickett, the impressions

temptations, mighty mighty sly

don't have to do anything but walk

on stage

and i scream and stamp and shout

see new breed men in breed alls

dashiki suits with shirts that match

the lining that complements the ties

that smile at the sandals

where dirty toes peek at me

and i scream and stamp and shout

for more beautiful beautiful beautiful

black men with outasight afros

you see, my whole life

is tied up

to unhappiness

it's father cooking breakfast

and me getting fat as a hog

or having no food

at all and father proving

his incompetence

again

i wish i knew how it would feel

to be free

it's having a job

they won't let you work

or no work at all

castrating me

(yes it happens to women too)

it's a sex object if you're pretty

and no love

or love and no sex if you're fat

get back fat black woman be a mother

grandmother strong thing but not woman

gameswoman romantic woman love needer

man seeker dick eater sweat getter

fuck needing love seeking woman

it's a hole in your shoe

and buying lil' sis a dress

and her saying you shouldn't

when you know

all too well—that you shouldn't

but smiles are only something we give

to properly dressed social workers

not each other

only smiles of i know

your game sister

which isn't really

a smile

joy is finding a pregnant roach

and squashing it

not finding someone to hold

let go get off get back don't turn

me on you black dog

how dare you care

about me

you ain't got no good sense

cause i ain't shit you must be lower

than that to care

it's a filthy house

with yesterday's watermelon

and monday's tears

cause true ladies don't

know how to clean

it's intellectual devastation

of everybody

to avoid emotional commitment

“yeah honey i would've married

him but he didn't have no degree”

it's knock-kneed mini-skirted

wig wearing died blond mamma's scar

born dead my scorn your whore

rough heeled broken nailed powdered

face me

whose whole life is tied

up to unhappiness

cause it's the only

for real thing

i

know

ever notice how it's only the ugly

honkies

who hate

like Hitler was an ugly dude

same with lyndon

ike nixon hhh wallace maddox

and all the governors of mississippi

and you don't ever see a good-looking

cop

perhaps this only relates to the physical

nature of the beast

at best interesting for a beast

and never beautiful

by that black standard

if dracula came to town now

he'd look like daley

booing senator ribicoff

no pretty man himself

but at least out of the beast

category

yet all had to describe julian bond

as the handsome black legislator

which is, of course, redundant

life put muskie and huskie humphrey

on the cover

and we were struck by a thought:

“if we must be screwed—they could at least be pretty”

but the uglies kill

all the pretties

like john and bobby

and evers and king

and if caroline don't look

out she'll be next

arthur miller spoke of the white things

jumping wildly on their feet

banging their paws together

hating the young

only this time they were hating

their young

a salute to the chicago kids

now you and the world knows

we weren't lying

a cracked skull in time

may save mine

(though i doubt it)

and hhh says we ought to quit pretending

what daley did was wrong

We aren't pretending

We didn't give a damn

you guys ought to get yourselves

together

eating your kids is a sexual

perversion

the politics of '68 remind us grievously

of the politics of '64

the deal to put the bird

and his faggoty flock in the white nest

(which began in dallas)

is being replayed and repaid

(the downpayment being made in los angeles)

with tricky dicky to win this time

(the final payment chicago)

cause there's only two parties in this country

anti-nigger and pro-nigger

most of the pro-niggers are now dead

this second reconstruction is being aborted

as was the first

the pro-niggers council voting

the anti-niggers have guns

if we vote this season we ought to seek to make it

effective

the barrel of a gun is the best

voting machine

your best protest vote

is a dead honkie

much more effective than a yes

for gregory or cleaver

this negative bullshit

they run on us

is to tie us up in identification

“you don't want nixon-agnew do you?”

“well vote for humphrey-muskie”

but all you honkies are alien

to me

and i reject the choice

it's the same game they run

about nigeria

“whose side are you on?”

the black side, fool

how many times must i show that?

taking sides is identifying

and that is commitment

be committed to us

and don't deal with them

as long as we choose one evil over another

(on some bullshit theory that it's lesser)

we'll have bullshit evil to deal with

let's build a for real black thing

called revolution

known to revolutionists as

love

the obvious need is a new liberal white party

to organize liberal and radical honkies

this will lessen but not remove the clear and present

danger

to us

we need to continue our fight to control

all of america

honkies are just not fit to rule

these are sorry but true facts—not one honkie is fit to

rule

the worst junkie or black businessman is more humane

than the best honkie

no black person would have allowed

his troops to be so slaughtered

and before you scream “king king”

his promise was your picture in the paper

and your head in bandages

mccarthy (the administration's official dissident

candidate)

was not so honest

there are those who say he began with lyndon's blessings

and the promise of good speaking engagements

and since we have witnessed the assassination of one who

didn't need the money

or have the blessing

we are inclined to agree

and daley talked of teddy not making up his mind

he said no

that's pretty definite

only it's sad that once again

we have a chance we aren't fully

utilizing

the honkies are at war to decide what to do

about us

and here we are

trying to get

into what every sensible person should be running

from

when we integrated the schools

they began moving away from public education

when we integrated the churches

they started the god is dead bit

now we're integrating politics

and they're moving to a police state

we ought to beat them to the punch

and pull off our coup

and take over, with arms and everything necessary,

our communities

post-election note:

those of us breathing easy now that wallace

wasn't elected

check again

that's gas you're smelling

survival is still the name of the game

black people still our only allies

life or death still our only option

let's me and you do that thing

please?

BOOK: The Collected Poetry of Nikki Giovanni
3.7Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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