Third World Press Tribute to AB

Amiri Baraka (1934 to 2014) Third World Press pauses to pay tribute to Amiri Baraka—poet, activist, historian, cultural critic.  He was one of the most significant voices of our times. As we reflect and honor this man and his legacy, we are also reminded of his words, his revolutionary voice, and his unmistakable urgency. Amiri   baraka “always come in a place later.” rushin to catch words that came before him tho that don’t much matter, him got his own words, music, dance, dramatics & bright ideas even if some of them used cars & don’t work.                              but baraka works works harder than 15 men his age, da, da da, do    who been around long enough to tell his time in places where people have tried to beat the beat & tempo out of his talk & walk. monk, trane & duke played secrets that saved him and us even if we didn’t accurately hear their da da, doos baraka did.  they spoke musically to him. he gave us his many languages & genius. his comin in time is getting better & best & less late, even for this sage still makin up stories actin on his own stage & firing truthpoems that compel liars & politicians to exit early and often. For Amiri Baraka   © 2004 by Haki R. Madhubuti from Run Toward Fear: New Poems and a Poet’s Handbook published by Third World Press   Baraka II     i saw The Dead Lecturer in a Chicago airport. pacing, fast walking probably quick thinking about unfinished projects like plays, poems and essays about “successful” negroes supporting Bush & Ghost and the secrets of whites with rhythm and mass graves in Rwanda; mostly Tales  of The System of Dante’s Hell out of school really way past graduate courses taught on the rough-neck streets of Newark. A kind of Funk Lore in 3/4 time. recently, i saw Black Fire, In Our Terribleness—older and small but still a witness with missing teeth, grayer hair with a fast smile in a blue shirt, accentuated by a smokin Egyptian print tie—on the south side of Chicago. Spirit Reach with his Hard Facts was alone and standing close to a pay phone without an assistant, credit or debit cards, without lovers of literature or Jello supporting him. No Kawaida Studies here. his aloneness frightens me, approaching him I wondered why this genius of serious music, of transcendent literature wasn’t surrounded by readers, fans, collectors of fine words on pages seeking instructions and autographs. It’s Nation Time is still asleep. where were the Blues People and Black Magic folks? S.O.S. for the Slave ships and The Motion of History souls. where were the consumers of best sellers, few sellers & the new line of negro confessional booty-call stores. maybe they just didn’t notice this Wise, Why’s, Y’s poet, this lover of language, passionate protectors of sound and the laughter of children. maybe they were blinded by their bones of contradiction— and pimp juice traversing their veins. they looked past this original and complicated seer of Black life, this The Moderns updated, reworked beyond Transbluesency, there will be no Eulogies here, no Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note, just an older and able African son going Home, pacing the floor of Midway Airport on the southside of Chicago, thinking and alone with a swift—smile.  “whats happenin bro?”     © 2004 by Haki R. Madhubuti from Run Toward Fear: New Poems and a Poet’s Handbook published by Third World Press         Baraka III   It’s difficult to be talented  & genius yet, often called crazy to your face in a place that rewards moneymakers who build and worship skyscrapers as monuments to the individuality of dollar bill collecting and preemptive war making & whose poets and artists are viewed as handicapped, a bit mad with water colored hands & ideas. artists who work at beauty, wear words bathed in nature & music, talk in complex sentences, odd metaphors & swinging feet are confusing to themselves and others. they also think too much about the nature of flags and forests, the truth of institutions & religions of language and lawyers, bankers & brokers; the why & who of homelessness, the question of collateral damage and the battle between cultures, races & classes out of school.   actually, being a complete artist in a place that worships skyscrapers, money, war, misconceived thought and hummer2,  over children    requires a bit of madness.     © 2004 by Haki R. Madhubuti from Run Toward Fear: New Poems and a Poet’s Handbook published by Third World Press   Haki R. Madhubuti Poet, Founder and Publisher of Third World Press His latest book is Honoring Genius: Gwendolyn Brooks: The Narrative of Craft, Art, Kindness and Justice. Copyright © 2014 Third World Press Inc., All rights reserved. You're receiving this campaign because you signed up previously at www.thirdworldpressinc.com or TWPBooks.com. Our mailing address is:  Third World Press Inc. 7822 S. Dobson P.O. Box 19730 Chicago, IL 6061