OTRO GRITO DE LIBERTAD

dis poem

shall speak of the wretched sea

that washed ships to these shores

of mothers cryin for their young

swallowed up by the sea.

Dis poem shall say nothin new,

dis poem shall speak of time,

time unlimited, time undefined.

Dis poem shall call names

names like lumumba, kenyatta, nkrumah,

hannibal, akenaton, malcolm, garvey,

haile selassie.

Dis poem is vexed about apartheid, rascism, fascism,

the klu klux klan, riots in brixton, atlanta,

jim jones.

Dis poem is revoltin against 1st world, 2nd world,

3rd world division man made decision.

Dis poem is like all the rest,

dis poem will not be amongst great literary works,

will not be recited by poetry enthusiasts,

will not be quoted by politicians nor men of religion.

Dis poem is knives, bombs, guns, blood, fire,

blazin for freedom.

Yes dis poem is a drum,

ashanti, mau mau, ibo, yoruba, nyahbingi warriors,

uhuru uhuru,

uhuru namibia,

uhuru soweto,

uhuru afrika,

dis poem will not change things,

dis poem need to be changed,

dis poem is a rebirth of a peoplarizin awaking understandin,

dis poem speak, is speakin, have spoken.

Dis poem shall continue even when poets have stopped writin.

Dis poem shall survive u, me, it shall linger in history

in your mind, in time forever.

Dis poem is time. Only time will tell.

Dis poem is still not written,

dis poem has no poet,

dis poem is just a part of the story,

his-story, her-story, our-story, the story still untold,

dis poem is now ringin, talkin, irritatin,

makin u want to stop it,

but dis poem will not stop, dis poem is long, cannot be short.

Dis poem cannot be tamed, cannot be blamed.

The story is still not told about dis poem,

dis poem is old new,

dis poem was copied from the bible, your prayer book,

playboy magazine, the n.y. times, reader´s digest,

the c.i.a. files, the k.g.b. files,

dis poem is no secret,

dis poem shall be called boring, stupid, senseless.

Dis poem is watchin u tryin to make sense from dis poem.

Dis poem is messin up your brains,

makin u want to stop listenin to dis poem,

but u shall not stop listenin to dis poem,

u need to know what will be said next in dis poem,

dis poem shall disappoint u,

because

dis poem is to be continued in your mind, in your mind,

in your mind, your mind...

MUTABARUKA