Dr. Nigger

Dr. Nigger

Dr. Nigger
Can you cure me without
touching me with nigga hands
Can you save my life
without changing my life
Can you dance soft-shoe while
humming those negro tunes
when my white life codes blue
Can you reach inside yourself
beyond the shit we put in you…
past painful moments we put in you…
past despair and hopelessness
we’ve put in you and
find that old black magic in you
to save my life without changing
all the shit we put in you
Dr. Nigger
Can you breathe in me
air free of nigga
from a nigger not free
to breathe in free air
Can you stay on the colored side
of the color line and reach across
without touching me with nigga hands
to restart my blue heart without
changing my cold heart
Can you reach past the life
we’ve taken from you to
save my life and not
let white life pass me by
Dr. Nigger
save my life
without taking my life
Cure me without
touching me with nigga hands
Dance soft-shoe while
humming negro tunes
while you save my life
without changing my life
when my white life codes blue
Copyright © 2009 by Neal Hall, M.D.

Nigger for Life, NealHall,2009.

Poetry Issue, Journal of Pan African Studies

NEXT ISSUE

Volume 4 • Number 2 • December, 2010

The next issue of The Journal of Pan African Studies will feature a poetry anthology edited by guest editor Marvin X. He is well known for his work as a poet, playwright and essayist of the Black Arts Movement. He has worked with Ed Bullins in the founding of Black House and The Black Arts/West Theatre in San Francisco, California (Black House served briefly as the headquarters for the Black Panther Party and as a center for performance, theatre, poetry and music). Marvin received his B.A. and M.A. in English from San Francisco State University and has received writing fellowships from Columbia University and the National Endowment for the Arts, and planning grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities.

MARVIN X, GUEST EDITOR

Associate Guest Editors:

Ramal Lamar, Ptah Allah El

Senior Editor, Itibari M. Zulu

Dedicated

to

Dingane, aka, Jose Goncalves,

Publisher, Editor

Journal of Black Poetry

Contents

Photo Essay: Journal of Black Poetry Poets

Dedicated to the Honorable Dingane, Jose Goncalves, founder, Journal of Black Poetry

Those 60s Journals: JBP, Black Dialogue, Soulbook,Black Theatre, Black World/Negro Digest,Umbra

Compiled by Rudolph Lewis

The Poets

Part One: In My Negritude

Shaggy Flores

Ras Griot

Phavia Kujichagulia

Chinwe Enemchukwu

L. E. Scott

Rodney D. Coates

J. Vern Cromartie

Dike Okoro

Neal E. Hall

Marvin X

Mohja Kahf

Muslim American Literature, An emerging field: Dr. Mohja Kahf

Ayodele Nzingha

Askia M. Toure

Review by Kamaria Muntu: Mother Earth Responds, Askia Toure

Michael Simanga

Amiri Baraka

Kalamu ya Salaam

Kola Boof

Louis Reyes Rivera

Aries Jordan

Ptah Allah El

Review by Zulu King: Tainted Soul by Ptah Allah El

Hettie V. Williams

Part Two: Whirlwind

A Dialogue on the Poetic Mission: Marvin X, Rudolph Lewis,

Jerry Ward, Mary Weems, C. Leigh McInnis

Haki Madhubuti on the Poetic Mission

Tracey Owens Patton

devorah major

Anthony Mays

Bruce George

Jeanette Drake

Itibari M. Zulu

Renaldo Manuel Ricketts

Nandi Comer

Al Young

Ghasem Batamuntu

Mona Lisa Saloy

Eugene B. Redmond

Fritz Pointer

Gwendolyn Mitchell

Felix Orisewike Sylvanus

Rudolph Lewis

Kamaria Muntu

Ed Bullins

Mabel Mnensa

Kwan Booth

Tureeda Mikell

Part Three: Amour of Ancestors

Everett Hoagland

Charles Blackwell

Jacqueline Kibacha

John Reynolds III

Darlene Scott

Jimmy Smith Jr.

Sam Hamud

Opal Palmer Adisa

Amy ”Aimstar” Andrieux

Lamont b. Steptoe

Avotcja Jiltonilro

Anthony Spires

Benecia Blue

Neil Callender

Tanure Ojaide

Pious Okoro

Tony Medina

Dr. Ja A. Jahannes

Brother Yao

Zayad Muhammad

Nykimbe Broussard

Kilola Maishya

Niyah X

Adrienne N. Wartts

Greg Carr

Darlene Roy

Tantra Zawadi

Ishmael Reed

Quincy Scott Jones

Bob McNeil

Ariel Pierson

Marie Rice

Yvonne Hilton

Bolade Akintolayo

Latasha Diggs

Felton Eaddy

B. Sharise Moore

VIEWS, REVIEWS, NEWS

Medical Mythology, Ramal Lamar

Dialogue on Qaddafy’s Apology for Arab Slavery:

Sam Hamud, Kola Boof, Rudolph Lewis

Two Poets on Oakland CA: Ishmael Reed, Marvin X

A Pan African Dialogue on Cuba

Carlos Moore, Dead Prez, Black Intellectual/activists

Letters to the Editor

Black History: San Francisco Bay Area Celebrated Amiri’s 75^th by Lee Hubbard and Marvin X

Photos by Kamau Amen Ra

Dr. Nigger

Dr. Nigger
Can you cure me without
touching me with nigga hands
Can you save my life
without changing my life
Can you dance soft-shoe while
humming those negro tunes
when my white life codes blue
Can you reach inside yourself
beyond the shit we put in you…
past painful moments we put in you…
past despair and hopelessness
we’ve put in you and
find that old black magic in you
to save my life without changing
all the shit we put in you
Dr. Nigger
Can you breathe in me
air free of nigga
from a nigger not free
to breathe in free air
Can you stay on the colored side
of the color line and reach across
without touching me with nigga hands
to restart my blue heart without
changing my cold heart
Can you reach past the life
we’ve taken from you to
save my life and not
let white life pass me by
Dr. Nigger
save my life
without taking my life
Cure me without
touching me with nigga hands
Dance soft-shoe while
humming negro tunes
while you save my life
without changing my life
when my white life codes blue
Copyright © 2009 by Neal Hall, M.D.