Collected Poems

1. from Home Coming homecoming poem at thirty nigger black magic summary malcolm small comment the final solution/ to CHucK poem for dcs 8th graders—1966–67 definition for blk/children Memorial [1. The supremes—cuz they dead . . . ] Memorial [2. bobby hutton . . . ] personal letter no. 2 2. from We a BaddDDD People SURVIVAL POEMS a poem for my father blk / rhetoric personal letter no. 3 television / poem right on: wite america 1 right on: wite america 2 right on: wite america 3 right on: wite america 4 in the courtroom summer words of a sistuh addict on watching a world series game LOVE/SONG/CHANTS 10:15 am — April 27, 1969 poem last poem i’m gonna write bout us for our lady TCB/EN POEMS “To Fanon, culture meant only one thing . . .” why i don’t get high on shit sunday / evening at gwen’s —a poem for nina simone to put some music to and blow our nigguh / minds— a ballad for stirling street (to be sung) For Amina and Amira Baraka now poem. for us. 3. from Love Poems Why Poem No. 1 July Father and Daughter Haiku from a husband Poem No. 3 Poem No. 4 Magic Words Haiku [we grow up my love . . . ] After the fifth day Haiku [Was it yesterday . . . ] Haiku [O i am so sad, i . . . ] Prelude to Nothing Blues Kaleidoscope Haiku [o i was wide and . . . ] Ballad (after the spanish) Poem No. 7 Sequences Old Words Haiku [if i had known, if . . . ] To You/Who Almost Turned/Me On Formula Haiku [there are things sadder . . . ] Poem No. 8 Poem No. 10 Welcome home. my prince Haiku [your love was a port . . . ] Haiku [i could love you Black . . . ] I Have Walked a Long Time Hey There A Blk/Woman/Speaks Poem No. 12 Haiku (written from Peking) Depression Listening to Jimmy Garrison Haiku [in your wet season . . . ] Haiku [O this day like an . . . ] Poem No. 15 4. from A Blues Book for Blue Black Magical Women PAST [COME into Black geography . . . ] 1. woman 2. earth mother 3. young/black/girl 4. young womanhood 5. womanhood PRESENT 1 [THIS woman vomiting her . . . ] REBIRTH [WHEN i stepped off the plane i knew i was home . . . ] 5. from It’s a New Day poems for young brothas and sistahs For Morani/Mungu/Meusi Words for Kali and Poochie Words for Geoffrey and Stephanie Hamilton City Songs to P. J. (2 yrs old who sed write a poem for me in Portland, Oregon) When we come We Can Be 6. from I’ve Been a Woman (Haikus / Tankas & Other Love Syllables) 7. from Under a Soprano Sky BEGINNINGS Under a Soprano Sky (section 1) A poem for my brother elegy for MOVE and Philadelphia Poem Morning raga: 6/28/84 Philadelphia: Spring, 1985 At the Gallery of La Casa de Las Americas, Habana. Dec. 1984 haiku for morani and mungu 3 x 3 shigeko: a hiroshima maiden speaks: 3 x 3 Carl: a Black man Speaks: 3 x 3 the poet: speaks after silence: insomnia “There is no news from Auschwitz” question for mrs. rinaldi words for mr. and mrs. rinaldi the inmate Last recording session/for papa Joe tanka for papa Joe Jones who used to toss me up to the sky haiku (walking in the rain in Guyana) on listening to Malcolm’s Ballot or The Bullet Song No. 3 for 2nd & 3rd grade sisters Dear Mama, Fall short poem: at midnight short poem 3 haiku for mungu and morani and the children of soweto haiku for john brown A poem for my most Intelligent 10:30 am Class/ Fall, 1985 Haiku for Paul Robeson Africa Poem No. 4 style no. 1 Graduation Notes 8. from Generations From a Black Feminist Conference Reflections on Margaret Walker: Poet Reflections After the June 12th March for Disarmament A Poem of Praise for Gerald Penny . . . Father and Daughter 9. from Homegirls and Handgrenades Story Poem Written After Reading Wright’s “American Hunger” A Song Haiku [i see you blackboy . . . ] Masks A Poem for Paul Bubba A Letter to Dr. Martin Luther King MIAS On Seeing a Pacifist Burn Letter to Ezekiel Mphahlele 10. from Wounded in the House of a Friend PART I Wounded in the House of a Friend: Set No. 1 PART II Catch the Fire A Love Song for Spelman Poem [What I have seen in the twentieth century . . . ] PART III Love Song No. 3 Introduction of Toni Morrison . . . Poem for July 4, 1994 For President Václav Havel This Is Not a Small Voice PART IV Poem for Some Women haiku 1 [i have died and dreamed . . . ] blues haiku 1 [all this talk bout love . . . ] tanka [i have taken five . . . ] haiku 2 [everywhere i turn . . . ] haiku 4 [your breath in exile . . . ] haiku 6 [if i had known then . . . ] sonku [have mercy on the . . . ] South African tanka [the necklace i bring . . . ] haiku 8 [i am hunched down in . . . ] blues haiku 2 [ain’t no curves in his . . . ] haiku 9 [the sprawling sound . . . ] 11. from Does Your House Have Lions? sister’s voice brother’s voice 12. from Like the Singing Coming off the Drums Dancing Haiku [you ask me to run . . . ] Song Tanka [i don’t know the rules . . . ] Haiku [i come from the same . . . ] Haiku [i have caught fire from . . . ] Haiku [love between us is . . . ] Haiku [i turn westward in . . . ] Sonku [i collect . . . ] Sonku [i who have . . . ] Blues haiku [you too slippery . . . ] Haiku [come windless invader . . . ] Haiku [i am moving in . . . ] Haiku on passing Toni Cade Bambara’s house Blues haiku [what i need is traveling . . . ] Haiku [old man standing long . . . ] Haiku [it is i who have . . . ] Tanka [this man has sucked too . . . ] Haiku [i am watersnake . . . ] Haiku [i am the ugly . . . ] Haiku [have you ever crossed . . . ] Haiku [mixed with day and sun . . . ] Blues [even though you came in december be my january man . . . ] Haiku [how fast is the wind . . . ] Blues Haiku [let me be yo wil . . . ] Blues Haiku [am i yo philly . . . ] Haiku [my womb is a dance . . . ] Haiku [sweet woman dancing . . . ] Poem [i am dreaming . . . ] Sonku [love comes with . . . ] Haiku [c’mon man hold me . . . ] Tanka [c’mon man ride me . . . ] Sonku [i feel your . . . ] Sonku [i hear the . . . ] Haiku [i am who i am . . . ] Haiku question from a young sister Poem [Good morning, sex . . . ] Blues haiku [yall talkin all under . . . ] Blues haiku [i wuz in Kansas . . . ] Haiku [i am looking for . . . ] Haiku [these waves boisterous like . . . ] Haiku for Louis Massiah Sonku [what is love . . . ] Blues haiku [my face is a scarred . . . ] Haiku [derelict with eyes . . . ] Haiku [they smell like rust . . . ] Haiku [a tint on the tongue . . . ] Haiku [my teeth can write your . . . ] Haiku [i have carved your face . . . ] Sonku [my eyes look . . . ] Haiku [i am a small piece . . . ] Haiku [to be lifted in . . . ] Tanka [woman without heat . . . ] Haiku [it was nothing big . . . ] Sonku [what i want . . . ] Haiku [i hear your breath . . . ] Haiku for Joe Barry Haiku [red orange breasts sweet . . . ] Haiku [and i am flesh burnt . . . ] Haiku [this poem is for me . . . ] Short Poem [quite often without . . . ] Haiku 2 [my bones migrate in . . . ] Haiku [do you want ashes . . . ] Haiku [if i were an old . . . ] Haiku [you are rock garden . . . ] Tanka [to surround yourself with . . . ] Sonku [to worship . . . ] Haiku [my bones hang to . . . ] Haiku [in this wet season . . . ] A Poem for Ella Fitzgerald Love Poem for Tupac For Tupac Amaru Shakur from Remembering and Honoring Toni Cade Bambara For Sister Gwen Brooks 13. from Shake Loose My Skin Morning Song and Evening Walk For Sweet Honey in the Rock Aaaayeee Babo (Praise God) Fragment 1 Fragment 2 Haiku [man. you write me so . . . ] Towhomitmayconcern Song No. 2 An Anthem for the ANC and Brandywine Peace Community 14. from Morning Haiku haikuography 10 haiku for Max Roach dance haiku 14 haiku for Emmett Louis Till from 21 haiku for Odetta 4 haiku for Max Roach sister haiku for Pat 15 haiku for Toni Morrison 6 haiku for Elizabeth Catlett in Cuernavaca 2 haiku for Ras Baraka 5 haiku for Sarah Vaughan 9 haiku for Freedom’s Sisters 5 love haiku 6 haiku for Maya Angelou memory haiku haiku poem: 1 year after 9/11 15. Envoi: For Harriet Tubman Haiku and Tanka for Harriet Tubman