Marvin X poem: When you have seen the corruption of city hall, from Liberation Poems for North American Africans, 1983

 

When you have seen the corruption of city hall
when you have watched it month after month
year after year
when you attend city council meetings
hear the rip off talk
recycled rhetoric from The Prince
when you see apathy
walking streets
beating tin cans
when you see destruction of revolution by political perversion
alcohol crack religion wife beating rape
when you see the corruption of city hall
when you see the people's hopes drowned in false contracts
false wages false loans false  trips false votes
when you see for my friends only
for my bankers
for my developers
for my brothers in ritual and myth
let the others eat cheese
let them starve
scum don't matter
City Hall
Allah came to save the poor
save the ignorant
save the blind hungry broken hearted
whom do you serve
Who sent you?
Did you forget the consent of the governed?
--Marvin X
from Liberation Poems for North American Africans, Black Bird Press, 1983

 

Marvin X/El Muhajir

Poet, playwright, philosopher, planner, co-founder of the National Black Arts Movement,

publisher of the The Movement, Newspaper of the BAM/BAMBD 

Now available for speaking/reading coast to coast: mxjackmon@gmail.com