Sweet Tea/Dirty Rice, Love Poems by Marvin X

Sweet Tea/Dirty Rice
Love Poems



Marvin X


The USA's Rumi!
--Bob Holman, Bowery Poetry Club, New York City

photo Gene Hazzard

He has always been in the forefront of Pan African writing. Indeed, he is one of the founders and innovators of the revolutionary school of African writing.
--Amiri Baraka











Marvin X
(El Muhajir)

"The USA's Rumi!"--Bob Holman, Bowery Poetry Club,
New York City




photo by Gene Hazzard

Contents

Wish I could fly like hawk

\African Blues Ain't Blue
Oh, Mighty Kora
Again the Kora
Empire
Don't ask, don't take
Something is Goin on up in here
Post Black Negro
Remembering Dad
And We Wonder
And then there are Angels
Cyberspace Dead
Memorial Day
Dream Time 2
I Am John Coltrane
If I Were A Muslim In Good Standing
Old Warriors
In the Temple of X
There Was an Island
A Street Named Rashidah Muhammad (Dessie X)
Poem for Clara Muhammad

Prayer for Young Mothers

This

Yes, it’s all there

When I think about the women in my life

Letter to dead negroes in cyberspace

We’re in love but you don’t know me

Growing up

In my solitude, for Duke

A Day we never thought

Mama’s bones

Love is for the beloved

Lesbian

Poem for unresolved grief

Song for Reginald Madpoet

Benazir Bhutto

Dis Ma Hair

Ancestors II

Facing Mt. Kenya

O, Kora, Elegy for John D

Who are these Jews?

For Jerri Jackmon

When Lemmie Died

And then the end

How does it feel to be a nigger

No black fight

Praise song for Askia Toure

Bank the Bankers



Wish I Could Fly Like a Hawk


Wish I could fly like a hawk
just soar above earth
silent
gliding smooth
no noise
silent
observing all
madness below
rats scurrying
snakes in the grass
wish I could fly like a hawk
sometimes in motion still
wings frozen in flight
yet moving
wish I could be hawk
above the madness of it all
the meaningless chatter
cell phone psychosis
talking loud saying nothing
why are you breathing
jogging
without meaning purpose
no mission beyond nothingness
absorbing air from the meaningful
who subscribe to justice
let me fly above the living dead
let me soar
let me dream
imagine
another time and place
another space
this cannot be the end game
the hail marry
let me soar above it all
wings spread wide
let me glide
ah, the air is fresh up here
did I make it to heaven
did I escape hell
come with me
do not be afraid
the night is young
let us fly into the moon
see the crescent
so beautiful
let us fly into the friendly sky
wings spread wide
we are strong and mighty
the hawk.
--Marvin X
10/10/10

African Blues Ain't Blue


Where we get the blues
some Mississippi Delta sound
invention
a slavery thing
no no no
ancient
aboriginal sound
these moans
wails
beyond whip and lash
way back in time
before time
these rhythms
ancient pluckings on strings
yes
before lash and whip
before broken heart and soul
blues
Mali sound
Senegal
get down slow
African moan wail
cry in the night
some eternal thing
far beyond slavery and broken heart
from Kunta to Toby
no matter
we sang
love songs
praise songs
wails
moans
there is no de Nile
except in the negro mind
we know the sound of duck
when it quacks all day long
we know it duck
don't de Nile
circle complete
when BB met Ali Farka.
Ali say he don't know blues
only three thousand year old music
no blues back in time
blues is slave narrative
yet connection is real
to de Nile, Niger....
--Marvin X
12/30/10

Ali Farka on the Blues:

There have been other influences and collaborations, as far back as the late 1960s, artists such as BB King, John Lee Hooker, Clarence Powell and Bonny White. These musicians introduced Ali Farka Touré to African-American music and the ‘blues’ sound and experience that Ali fights against being labelled with. The blues and Ali’s sound are similar of course, but he insists he plays at the pure roots of the music — using instruments, rhythms and tone that can only be Malian, the “library” of the world’s music. “What I know is from traditional guitarists, traditional violinists… bamboo flutes… These are sounds that are two or three thousand years old. Our empire is what has given me the strength to express myself and to create.” It can’t be translated into the word blues, it’s tradition, while the blues men in the northern hemisphere are doing something different. “The word ‘blues’, here in Mali we don’t have the ‘blues’, it doesn’t exist. No. No Malian would be able to say to you that: ‘that’s blues music’ if he says that he’s lying. If you say ‘blues’ he’ll go and find you a doctor… and that’s the truth.”


Oh, Mighty Kora


I Cannot Hide from the Kora

Oh, Mighty Kora
Why do you tear the heart apart
take soul from mind
ten thousand years of culture
seeps into a soul lost in time
Oh, Kora
taking heart into time lost, time regained
what magic is this, what mystery
sound set centuries ago
no improvisation, no jazz
myth and ritual set for infinity
voices heard
message to the king
from the king
griot sings song to the court
king listens and obeys sound of kora
submit or die
heart music cannot lie
sound of a thousand nights on the River Senegal
dance of a thousand warriors
holy stomp of a thousand women breasts shaking in the sun
take me home,take me home
I am not bound for this wilderness, this dungeon in darkness
how was I taken from my holy land
cast into hell with devils of the worse kind
naked and devoid of my holy tongue
my holy mind and soul

Now I speak the language of bastards
men of ill repute
pirates, kidnappers and rapists
these are not men but the shell of human beings
who plunder for the illusions of life
there is no joy in their ritual
no happiness, no peace
I am weary, a stranger in a strange land
take me back to the Senegal and the Niger
Let me hear the Kora in the day and in the night
the dance of ancient times
rhythms of ancestors
let me be at peace with eternity
this is not my world
no matter how I try
I am naked in the wind
take me home, take me home
let the whirlwind take me home
let me return to the womb of my Mother
let me dwell in the peace of my Father's House.
--Marvin X
6/17/10


Again the Kora


It is my heart strings before me
vessel
arteries
no blockage
music is detox
unplugging centuries
slavery
aftermath
failed reconstruction
terror of KKK
landless
betrayal of all parties to conflict
jim crow

post black negro
neo jim crow
down to Obama drama

oh, kora
you are the one who takes me out of here
another land, a time, space, a trillion years ago
a thousand million nights on the Senegal, the Congo, the Nile
I am the king, I am the farmer, I am the builder, iron worker, goldsmith
I am that I am

soul of my soul
plucker of heart
dance holy dance of a thousand years
leap into the forest
hold the lion above heads
dancers of the perfect mask
terror of manhood training
blood of womanhood
see and smell womanhood
men know smell blood of the lion.

I am your slave, oh Kora
in spite of myself
I submit willingly
to the voice ofAllah

no getting out of this
no crawling, no slither
snake like

Kora light and love.
so it is.
--Marvin X
7/30/10


The Empire

Afghanistan the longest war
against men born with guns in hand
Alexander didn't prove his greatness
Mongols
British
Russians
let America dance in the wind
will she go home like the British, Russians
empire gone
Civil war at home
battle hymn of the republic
rich against poor
white against black
to settle matters forever
without a doubt
you shall disband supremacy
body mind and soul
any thought of it
forever
there shall be eternal vigilance
to rope you in
make sure you detox recover
give up the need for it all and all and all
simple greed
we saw the wall fall
the twin towers
disintegrate
smelled the dust of ground zero
the madness of Iraq
needless blood and bones
billions stolen
four million refugees
slaughter of Fallujah
surge of Baghdad
payoff in Anbar
jobs for terrorists
none for the hood
housing for terrorists
none for the hood
education for terrorists
none for the hood
the empire withers
blows like the desert sands
you cannot gather the pieces
too many grains
it consumes
til you are no more.
--Marvin X
12/30/10


Don't Ask, Don't Take

for Julian Assange

Don't ask don't take the pussy
you don't have a pussy
she does
you don't bleed five days a month
she does
so it's hers to give to keep
not yours
so don't be delusional
oppressive
it's hers
crack open that thick skull
cave man
don't ask don't take
even if she sleep half sleep quarter sleep deep sleep
got a nut sleep
falling off to sleep after nut sleep
don't ask don't take
take a look bud
you don't have a pussy
when she jumps
her pussy jumps
she give it up when she wanna
to whomever
joe, willie, sam, mary, suzy
her bizness
handle yours
snoop doggy dog
you go in any hole
even a hole in the ground
you will plunge yo thang
can i get a witness up in here
if she change her mind
and women do change their minds
moment to moment moon to moon
as the tide comes ashore
and recedes
let there be love up in here
Kalamu says if you still the same
it wasn't love
a good fuck
but wasn't love
if you didn't transform
transcend
elevate yourself beyond the carnal
if you still the same
it wasn't love
don't ask don't take
let her give it up
she will come in the room
butt naked and get atop you
while you sleep
let her wake you up
and you will grab her nakedness and consume her
let her give it up
you don't need to ask
she made her mind to give up the pussy before you knocked on the door
before you thought you running big game
you slick
you the player
but got played
cause you didn't come correct
said the wrong word
failed the tone test
no pussy tonight for you
you blew it buddy
go to sleep
don't ask don't take.
--Marvin X
--12/22/10


See: Mythology of Pussy and Dick, toward Healthy Psychosocial Sexuality, Marvin X, Black Bird Press, 2010, 417 pages.

Somethin is goin on up in here

Don’t know what it is
I can smell it
But don’t know what it is
They say there is light in the room
They can feel the energy
The street is cleaner
A different vibe is in the air
People can feel it
They swear they can
Something is going on up in here
Angels stop by to bless the poor
Angels pay for books so the poor can read
Something is going on up in here
Don’t know what it is
But something is going on
I ain’t scared ain’t worried
Feel good about it
Don’t really understand it
But something is goin on up in here
The blockers try to block
Don’t do no good
The devils block to no avail
Something is going on up in here
So I flow with the flow
Don’t try to be important
Be humble
Give when the poor ask
Don’t worry bout tomorrow
Do the bees and birds worry bout tomorrow
But you hear them singing in the morning
Hear the bees buzzing outside my door
Something is going on up in here
So do the work
Keep on doing whatcha doing, boy
Something is going on up in here.
Is Buddha on the scene
With his fat belly and nappy hair
Or Jesus with lamb’s wool
Or Muhammad whose uncles were black
What’s really goin on up in here
Is this the end of time
The fire this time
No more water
Earthquakes in diverse places
Children teaching parents
Siblings hating and killing over Mama’s love
The spirit in the dark is on the scene
What’s really going on up in here.
Time is short
Listen to the radio, better watch yo tv.
This thing might be all over and you still at the party.
Party mama party poppa.
What’s really going on up in here.
You better ax somebody.
--m

The Post Black Negro

he ain't black, never was

his mama wasn't black

some colored lady from mississippi

not black

not to him

when she served miss ann

not black in the cotton field

yellin for his black ass to hurry up youngin

not black when she sent him to college to be a man

not black man just man

be human

love everybody and get ahead in life

so he became a success

hid from the black girls in college

did mama tell him that in the cotton field

tell him to hate his sisters

don't lie on mama post-black negro

don't lie

you just dreamed of white girls in the cotton patch

wanted masta's daughter but knew he would lynch yo ass

so you waited til you got up south

got smart read two books on whiteness and crossed over jordan

wouldn't join the BSU too black for you

you multicultural now

no more collard greens in yo canning jar

you crossed where mama never told you to go

no nigguhs in yo world

no negroes

no coons

no diggaboos

no burnt matches

you did it all by yo self

came on the slave ship by yo self didn't you

you was the only sardine on board

even had a restroom just for you

no black history month for you

world history is yo thing

european history really

want nothing to do with Africa, Asia, the Americas

that's a black thang

ain't into that shit

nigguh history, hell no

we is americans 100%

we is citizens

don't know why we renew voting rights

whites don't

chicanos don't

why us blacks

that's why i ain't claimin black

too inconvenient being black

complications

contradictions

depictions

reflictions

cross over and love everybody

leave dem nappy headed girls alone

don't want no nappy headed kids

don't care if I went to Yale and Stanford

Harvard and Princeton

I don't see color

I'm beyond such a thing

this is the post black world

get hipped.

We got Alambama for president

see he ain't really black

he African and white

that ain't black that's...post black

he american like bush and hillary

imperialist too

will send troops to Iran and Pakistan

will hunt ben laden like bush didn't

will prove his post blackness

so you too.

blond that weave

cross the line and be right for the new times

still stuck in blackness

going nowhere

we american so like it or leave it

don't call me black we go fight.

Remembering Dad

for Paul Cobb and Henry Winston

Classic black man
Race man
How can people know more about him than I?
should I be mad at him or myself
the men tell me how great he was
he was dad to me
the man who whupped my ass unmercifully
who argued with mom til she packed us and left
the man who gambled at the Elk's lodge
while I listened to Elijah Muhammad on the radio upstairs
went to Lowell Jr. High
bloods beat down poor white boy when they killed Emmit Til

Dad used to make me go with him to funeral parlors
deliver flowers to dead Negroes
cold and gray
terrifying me
maybe he wanted to teach me not to fear death

Dad was known over the Bay
known in the clubs where he danced even in his 80s
the people have stories about him I've never heard
making me sad I didn't know him like this
public man
social man
political man
only as father man
distant
old fashioned
from World War I
dressed sharp every day
starched shirt
suit, tie, carnation in lapel
shoes shined at Perry's on 7th
Ollie and I went with him on Sundays
then to church
any and every church to promote his florist bizness
holy ghost
baptist
methodist
we made the rounds
ecumenical for bizness
age came to dad
starched shirts dirty
suits piss stained
never saw him sick
until those cigars caught up with him in his late 80s
in the hospital for a week or two and he was gone
the man I didn't know yet knew too well
the man I became yet couldn't wear his clothes
stand in his shoes
no matter what I become I cannot be him
only myself
what a shame
Does prince ever become king, really?

--Marvin X
6/20/10


And We Wonder

And we wonder
the glory of a billion believers
yet Muslims live in hell
what faith is this
what belief
what honor
glory
we are alive with Allah
yet walk as dead
raise the coffin above our heads
sway it side to side in dance
all for naught
you were in the box before the box came to you
you walked and talked in the box
made love in the box
your children live in the box
yet you say you believe
but it is idle words
fit for an idiot
you dare jump out of the box
your minds are caught up
in negrocities or the worse kind
a mental slumber
yes, walkin while asleep
dream walking
you talk but no one hears
even on your cell phone
you talk but one one hears
yet they call constantly
to no avail
wasted minutes
you must pay
for naught
idle talk fit for an idiot
as Shakespeare said
full of sound and fury
signifying nothing.
your prayers are dread
and nothingness
for there is nothing where the soul's print should be
said Baraka
except a cellulose pouch
of disgusting habits.
--Marvin X
6/4/10

And then there are angels






And then there are angels
who come in the form of devils
advocating for Allah,
yet they speak in the voice of Satan
though Allah is in their heart
they test the believer for Allah
is he true to the cause
does he truly believe
let us test him
challenge his faith
will he submit to me or Allah
Ah, he is a believer
His life and death are all for Allah!
We tell him to construct buildings for Allah
he rejects us
We tell him to kill in the name of Allah
he rejects us
The man of faith says Allah is a state of mind
not buildings, institutions, shrines, mosques
What is a building when there is nothing in the heart
it is a shell, the man a corpse of living matter
how shall a building benefit him
how shall fellowship keep his faith
he is a dead man walking
following the green line to the chamber.
--m
6/4/10

Cyberspace Dead

Are there really people in cyberspace--
not ghosts from the past?
ancestors speak without lips?
silence is deafening.
Why are they brain dead yet hearts beating.


Memorial Day


I am a veteran
Not of foreign battlefields
Like my father in world war one
My uncles in world war two
And Korea
my friends from Vietnam
And Congo “police action”
But veteran none the less
Exiled and jailed because I refused
To visit Vietnam as a running dog for imperialism
I visited Canada, Chicago, Harlem, Mexico and Belize
Federal prison for a minute
But veteran I am
of the war in the hood
war of domestic colonialism
neo-colonialism
White supremacy in black face war
Fighting for black power that turned white
Or was always white
as in the other white people
war it was and is
Every day without end
no RR no respite just war
For colors like kindergarten children war
For turf warriors don’t own and run when popo comes
War for drugs and guns and women
War for hatred jealousy envy
Dante got a scholarship
but couldn’t get on the plane fast enough
The boyz in the hood met him on the block and jacked him
Relieved him of his gear
shot him in the head because he could read
Play basketball
had all the pretty girls
a square
The boyz wanted him dead like themselves
Wanted him to have a shrine with liquor bottles and teddy bears
candles
Wanted his mama and daddy to weep and mourn at the funeral
Like all the other moms and dads, uncle aunts cousins
Why should he make it out the war zone
The blood and broken bones of war in the hood
No veterans day no benefits no mental health sessions
No conversation
who cares who wants to know about the dead
In the hood
warriors gone down in the ghetto night
We heard the Uzi at 3am and saw the body on the steps til 3 pm
When the coroner finally arrived as children passed from school

I am the veteran of ghetto wars of liberation aborted
morphed into wars of self destruction
drugs supplied from police vans
Guns diverted from the army base
sold 24/7 behind the Arab store.

Junior is 14 but the main arms merchant in the hood
sells guns from his backpack
His daddy wants to know how he get all them guns
Junior don’t tell cause he warrior
He’s lost more friends than daddy
What can daddy tell him about war
death and blood and bones

He says he will get rich or die trying
But life is for love not money
And if he lives he will learn.
If he makes it out the war zone to another world
Where they murder in suits and suites
golf courses and yachts
if he makes it even beyond this world
He will learn that love is better than money
For he was once on the auction block
sold as a thing property
For money, yes,
for the love of money but not for love

his memory short and absent of truth
blunted
The war in the hood has tricked him into the slave past
Like a programmed monkey
he acts out the slave auction
The sale of himself on the corner with his homeys
Trying to pose cool in the war zone

I will tell him the truth
maybe one day it will hit him like a bullet
In the head
It will hit him multiple times in the brain until he awakens to the real battle
In the turf of his mind.
And he will stand tall and deliver himself to the altar of truth to be a witness
Along with his homeys
They will take charge of their posts
They will claim their turf and it will be theirs forever
Not for a moment in the night
But in the day and in the tomorrows
And the war will be over
No more sorrow no more blood and bones
No more shrines on the corner with liquor bottles teddy bears and candles.

--Marvin X
25 May 2007
Brooklyn NY
revised 5/31/10


Dream Time 2

We are beautiful
like the first beauty
of the world
beauty and truth
swimming soaring reaching
to higher truths
infinite possibilities
defying laws
transcending
like the hawk
gliding silently
above all
champion warrior
a lover in flight
to his beloved.
--Marvin X
5/4/10

I Am John Coltrane


I am John Coltrane
not with horn
but pen
beyond words to silence
not sound
words sacred
profane obscene
no proper politically correct
beyond bourgeoisie culture police
revolutionary puritans

who say
don't say nigguh but kill nigguhs at every turn
turn holy in prison doing push ups after killing all nigguhs in the hood
don't say motherfucker
but fuck their mothers, daughters, sons and anything else under the sun
but don't say motherfucker
don't say bitch

while they are the real bitch in disguise of mother Theresa

Fuck the King's English

the king and his mama
I am Freedom in discipline
all words in context
No political correctness
Sun Ra taught somebody else idea of somebody else world
not my idea
Sonny said I am not holy man
ain't crucifying me
that's for Jesus, Osiris, Malcolm, Martin, Medgar
My words shall crucify you
hang you on the cross and lynching tree of truth
people want low down dirty truth
Sonny taught me
no holy ghost truth
miller lite truth
watered down diluted polluted
pasteurized homogenized truth
Don't think nice of me
no politician here
vote for me I'll set you free here truth
hate me
more people love me
common people with common sense
no academic negores holy ghost negroes
common people with common sense

don't read book by cover common sense people

seeking truth and relief from suffering
light for children slipping in darkness
somebody help me
I am shaman truth
between darkness and light
before dawn truth
working my twist while wicked sleep
your world is not my world
and my world is not your world
to you your way and to me mine
lakum dinu kum waliya din.

Catch me in my hour of madness
did you invite me to your gladness
don't want your sadness
Sonny taught me this
holy rats
bourgeoisie swine
nigguh please!
get up outta here wit dat!
Square nigguhs will get ya killed
hustler podna's taught me that
I walk alone
Men of fear
cannot walk this road
I walk alone
men who snitch
who snibble
who take evidence to pharaoh
cannot walk this road
I walk alone
john coltrane
john coltrane
a love supreme
a love supreme
space is the place
space is the place.

Muhammad said live like you here for eternity
and live like death is tomorrow at dawn
why are you breathing
exercising
what reason what purpose
what program
Huey Newton asked me in our first meeting
what is your program, Jackmon?

I am John Coltrane
writing is fighting
writing is fighting
A love supreme
A love supreme

You can't touch this
beyond the beyond
beyond words
religion
politics money sex
vote for me
I'll set you free truth
see the stars. moon. sun.
I am blue man
blue trane.

Trane moving on
catch me if you can
my intensity consumes you
get out da kitchen
I am terror in the night
the dream the prayer of ancestors
for every hurtful thing
I speak and sing songs of the lion king
nothing holy nothing nice
catch me if you can
see my mask
the mask you fear
in your bones and blood
I am the wind
a pleasure to my people
I am the sun
A pleasure to my people
common sense people
beyond edumakion from the devil people
simple minded shit
where was he ten trillion years ago
Space is the place
Space is the place.
A love supreme
A love supreme.
--Marvin X
3/17/10





May 19, 1925
February 21, 1965










Brother Marvin,
I'm reading your poem today at the Malcolm X & Islam Today event this afternoon at the Schomburg Library in Harlem. I think it hits the spot on what we want to discuss at the forum.
We can rest assure that Brother Malcolm is proud of you today... carrying on his legacy of revolutionary spirituality for resistance and struggle.
--Sam Anderson

If I Were A Muslim In Good Standing

If I Were A Muslim In Good Standing





I would be like Prophet Muhammad





Elijah Muhammad









Malcolm X
I would fight oppression everywhere
I would liberate slaves
educate the poor
free the women
expel infidels from Muslim lands
fight quisling Muslim governments
not sleep til Jerusalem liberated
Palestine a free nation
send Zionists back to Europe
or into Mediterranean
if it took one hundred or two hundred years
like Saladin
I would slay them without remorse
Recite the Fatihah on pyramid of heads
expel heathen Christian armies from Iraq
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia
defend Iran's right to have Nukes
Why should Zionists have Nukes but not Iran
If Zionists are sane, so is Iran
If Zionists are sane, so North Korea
I would fight white supremacy in all forms
black face, Arab face, Chinese face
If I were a Muslim in good standing
I would liberate Mecca of slaves and selling pork
free the kingdom of Saudi Arabia of wicked primitive theology
Infecting virus of ignorance and reaction in Taliban Al Queda
and Sunni insurgents in Iraq
who have no intention to allow Shia rule except with obstruction
sabotage

I would salute Hamas and Hezbollah
for confronting Shaitan in all his masks
Salute Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt confronting Pharaoh Mubarak

Chief uncle abdullah (tom) of the Muslim world

I would stop domestic violence, honor killings, cutting of clitoris

put women in the front of the masjed to pray with dignity

not out in the alley

come in the back door like a jim crow negro

put the veil on men

show equality at all times

make earth paradise for those who truly believe

who fight oppression everywhere

who will not sleep til world is free
--Marvin

Old Warriors

Old warriors
go home to sun
each day news
no shocking
wipe eyes
the daily round
lonely at top
who can we visit
call
drink at bar
rap on corner
smoke a joint
even women friends
join sun
no escape
only the line
to the sun.
--Marvin X
10-20-09


In the Temple of X

In the temple of X
no pimping
except MX pimping himself
everybody rich in temple
everybody Mercedes
no poor once you get the light
Supreme Wisdom
don't get it but don't get it
you got it or ain't got it!
get real
you rich in the name of Divine within yourself
You within God, God within you
no spook gods, mysteries, hokee as pokee rituals
heaven after you die
heaven while you live
death is hell
Sun Ra said to die is only sin!

just plain truth
in the temple of X
no tithes, no slavery
take time for wife and family
no preacher get all the money
members starve
let's have burial plan, health plan
do for self plan
everybody
use the mind God gave you plan
Mama taught
do for self life
no welfare
food stamps
country girl brain
common sense woman
raised eleven
two grands
what manner of woman (rip)
I her special child
didn't know til siblings told me
later in life.
but she wouldn't have me for no man.
too lost in books.
wouldn't do nothing on her mini farm.
irrigate crops, feed chickens, nothing
lost in them books
no good for wife
Mama said I needed maid, secretary, mistress
no wife.
Mama deep in her spirituality:
know the truth, truth will set you free.
No medicine cabinet in house, no pills, no doctor visit
know the truth, truth will set you free of dis-ease.

In the temple of X
all truths represented
will you hide truth while you know?

Nat Turner in the temple of X
Harriet and Sojourner
Ida B. Wells
Booker T.
DuBois and Garvey
Noble Drew and Master Fard
Elijah and Malcolm
Martin too!
Nkrumah and Kwame Toure
Mandela and Winnie too.
in the temple of X.
How bout you?
Amiri, Askia, Sonia, Nikki
Haki, Ngugi wa Thi'ango
Wole Soyinka.
in the temple of X.
Ramal
Ptah
Geoffrey
Ayo
Phavia
Hunia
Hurriyah
Fahizah
Alona
Roger
Eugene
in temple of X.
--Marvin X
5/1//10

Ancestors

Ancestors
Who are the real motherfuckers
who fucked our fathers and mothers
into the good ship jesus
door of no return
sea of blood and bones
sharks and wail
who sold us to the ghost
Baraka say
ancestors we call you in the name of nigguhs
black nigguhs in the hoods of america
not pseudo black kemetic fakes and frauds
scared to see the new imperial king of the realm
too blind by the Sun of Ra to find a bone at the Pyramid
search in vain year after year
earth is ours
no matter Africa
no matter Arabia
no matter Asia
no matter the Americas
no matter Europe
earth is the black man's land
Gullahland is Africa
Africa in Mississippi Alabama Georgia, New Orleans
claim the land and forever hold your tongues
dig the pyramids of Louisiana see the Moorish mounds
see the Seminoles of Florida
Gullahs and Geeches up and down the coast
ancestors all
who were fucked by the motherfucker
king and queen motherfucker and son of a bitch
male rape and child rape and mother rape by the king and queen
ancestors all
guilty
and charged
Sun Ra said they got to pay
Africa got to pay like the white man devil
yeah, Africa pay
you got the gold diamonds precious metals everywhere
pay
stop paying europe and pay the negro
the motherfucker you made with the red flag
guiding him to the shore through the door of no return
that bitch warrior you allowed to be raped in front of his women and children
that whore who kept us alive while sexing the master
who wanted all the women men and children
greedy bastard
talk of clean english
fuck english
fuck every word of it
and fuck you too
you speak it
love it
seek to purify it
fake asses
claiming ancestor holiness
let the ancestors be cursed for their iniquities
and debaucheries
selling of souls in the centuries of time
you call them holy
call Mississippi holy
call Alabama Georgia Louisiana Carolina's holy ground
marsh swamp bayous rivers creeks
holy trees of strange fruit and blood wine
call ancestors from the woods and forests
call them from the pine trees and moss wood
call them from the rice cane fields cotton
plantation and city of death in the family
Clara said she wanted to put her head in the oven
in detroit of her time
Elijah was drunk as a coot she said
when Master Fard came selling red silk
same red we followed to the shore
when the king sold us to the ghost, Baraka said
he told us about the railroad in the bottom of ocean
filled with bones
ancestor bones who resisted and wailed cried and shitted
not only tongues but vile moans shouts screams to the motherfucker
the son of a bitch ancestor
who pitted tribe against tribe warrior against warrior
man against woman for trinkets and barrels of rum
and we yet praise them
in our abject ignorance
we praise the culture of madness and gold
madness and diamonds
madness and chopped hands clitoris legs
and there is no end even today
the kings and queens are alive and well
working overtime to feed themselves full
as we whore and rape each other into the night of the full moon
where the silence is loud and heard the world over
silence of hunger and disease
silence of ignorance and demands to be king for life
to never end the terror
to never avenge the righteous
to continue the plunder until the new kingdom comes
and the wicked are reduced to dust
and the motherfucker receives his fucking
Amen.
--Marvin X

There Was An Island

There was an island called Jerusalem

disappeared into the Arabian Sea

call it climate warming

island no more

people fish now

in the sea

where island used to be

fish sweet tasty

sea peaceful now

waves gentle

tide comes to shore like old times

before Abraham

when Canaan and Mizraim were brothers.

--Marvin X

3/23/10

A Street Named Rashidah Muhammad
DESSIE X. WOODS


There is a street in Oakland
nobody knows
hardly sees
they pass it going downtown on 20th Street/Tom Berkley Way (A Black Man)
Rashidah intersecting Tom Berkley
how nice
a black man's street intersecting a black woman's street
how nice
but who knows this Rashidah Muhammad
how many women or men or children
black or white, Muslim, Christian
but there it is
Rashidah Muhammad Street
named for a little warrior woman
midwife community organizer mother wife lover
who fought and killed her white rapist
down south and survived
police beatings and prison
Uhuru Movement pushed her case
Free Dessie X
Free Dessie X
Uhuru! Uhuru!
Salaam Rashidah Muhammad Salaam.
We love you.
--Marvin X
3/19/10

Poem for Clara Muhammad

She went to the door
when Master Fard knocked
selling red silk
asked was brother there
she said yeah
he in the back
drunk as a coot
Master Fard
sobered him
raised him from dead
so-called negro
Master departed
Elijah in charge
brothers said no
even his own brother
Kallot
Elijah ran seven years
black devils after him
"I will eat one grain of rice
til we kill Elijah."
Clara ran Nation
raised children
Elijah came home
snatched again by devil
this time white
charged with sedition
draft evasion
five years prison
Clara ran Nation
raised children
a little silent woman
disrespected by sisters
who shared her man
in her face
caught on roof
getting to her man
why they dis me
in my face?
she told Nisa Islam
Clara
first lady of the Nation
silent warrior
where is her bio
her mention on Women's Month
No black studies of Clara
comforter of Elijah
chief wife
mother of Herbert, Wallace,
Akbar, Ethel, et al
who will tell her story
raise her name to glory
this silent warrior
who nurtured Nation
those early days
when Elijah fled for his life
from black devils
white devils too.
who will call her name
great ancestor Clara.
I was in her house

she spoke to me
As-Salaam-Alaikum.
--Marvin X











Prayer for Young Mothers

Young mother hold on
we know you jumped life too soon
little baby with a baby
alone
man is gone
jail prison
other baby mama
another man holding his hand
hold on little mama
you have friends around the world
young girls trapped in the prison of their womb
babies asking questions minute by minute
some answers you are without
take your time
pace yourself
have a plan
for resurrection
you are the mighty the strong
don't give up give out give in
life is yours to win
keep the faith til you finish the race
in a moment there is time
to party look cute
work your mind
read a book
life ain't just lookin cute
don't be cute but psycho

drop sacred seeds in yo baby's mind
don't call him motherfucker all the time
we know you stressed
we know you angry
baby daddy wasn't true
yes he lied
when he said I love you
and how long did you know him
did you know his name
was it a one night stand
a booty call a strange man
no matter
you can come up
my doctor pregnant at 16
family cast her out
now she doctor at 32
baby boy 16
see what I mean

you can do it too
think it out plan it out
work it out
it's up to you
baby daddy can't save you
can't save himself
he baby too
just like you.

Don't go crazy
don't drug out
suicide in the night
keep the faith
you from a Great Race
people who suffered much
who cried many days
centuries
we came up from slavery of the body
you come up from slavery of the mind
get a grip
hold on to the rope of God
He's checkin yo every move
every step you take
you take one
He takes ten.
See you can't help but win.

When baby cry
give him some tea
cool him out
don't put him cross yo knee
don't be mean
cause you see baby daddy in his eyes lips nose
your son came through you but ain't you
ain't baby daddy either
he's on a mission of his own
into a world you may never see
be gentle yet firm
we know mother's love
unconditional
baby is same
he don't want food
clothes toys
he wants mama 24/7
you his heaven.
we know the world awaits him
with a frown not a smile
so be kind to this manchild.
He may bless you one day
beyond your imagination
he may be the one to save us
from oppression.

2/15/10


This

This is not about making money
selling books
ego or fame
women or children
Old age and sex
sin or some preacher
Some holy book or how one prays
a simple thing tears in eyes
working last nerve
standing when feet tired
Talking when silence is desire
showing love when hatred is behind smile
feeding poor when they ask
Like listening to old woman homeless story
of a mad negro and a mad African one after another
street children with grills in their mouths
telling stories of spirit world
the daily round
work unfinished
truth no matter what
a circle
This is not the personal
A lover lost in traffic
about the teacher but the student
who learns to stand to teach what he is taught
About comrades who will gather on the corner to save themselves
about the black the white the mixed the mad coming together to realize
life is a moment to seize or be lost
in eternity.
action and reaction
Passing the tone test in the presence of the beast.
getting through the day to fight tomorrow.
seeking knowledge above food, rent and pleasure.
Knowledge powers universe into ball
We throw into space and time until it explodes
a new world to see and wonder.
10/2/07

Yes, It's All There

Yes, it's all there

a time shared

a moment

a forever

growing tension

Impatient

giving agape love
years of ignorance
love persists
ordeal by fire
rituals of life
myths bound
we know the drill
story
we live myth
extending time
infinite joy love happiness
it comes
we blow it
blind
unsure
a child in the garden
dreaming
acting out
what happened manhood/womanhoood training
we kill the lion no more
we kill each other ritual
crucifixion
resurrection
ascension.
--Marvin X
7-1-09








When I Think About the Women in My Life

When I think about the women in my life
there have been no women
only angels who blessed me with love
Flowing rivers freely
no measure to their love
cannot compare one love to another
How can one compare the angelic
This angel did that or that angel did this
I won’t compare mothers of my children
gifts they gave precious and sweet
I would never compare I
thank you for the fruit of your womb
I have seen the fruit of your womb flower and be great in the land
I am humbled

other angels shared so many years
My revolutionary sisters who battled with me
gave me guidance
When I was in the dark
Who talked of building cities while I wrote poems
my love for your visions and dreams
even I couldn’t see
You the nationalist I the poet
you showed me the way kicking and screaming

To sex workers
who showed me love in the night
I salute you
you told me I was too rough to be a pimp
try a little tenderness be more gentle you said
thank you for serving me in the night

For Marsha
who suffered my crack and died before I recovered
I know you see me now in Cherokee
where you said I needed to be
a place proper for a classic black man artist
An angel can dwell but in heaven
No sweeter angel ever came on God’s earth
miz brown eyes unconditional love
Berkeley Girl Smart and hot
willing to give beyond all
one of ten, ten in one

Pamela
in the Valley
like Khadijah financed my come up
Who worries more than I want to know
Relax my sister
few things in life of importance
Rumi told you it don’t matter
If you come to the garden
If you don’t come to the garden
It don’t matter
God is all and all is God
Nothing else matters.
Your fears are not my fears
so I won’t go there with you
There is no fear in love
there is only love in love
something else in love it is not love but fear
I do not go into the room where fear lives
If you come from the room of fear you will find love everlasting
Come from fear and see love
What you love belongs to you and you alone No one can take what God has granted

Hurriyah
warrior woman from my youth
revolutionary days dreams fears
A million years cannot tare me from your love
a million men
I am still yours
somebody better get a healing Up in here.

Celeste
angel from Berkeley
Watch those Berkeley girls
Hot and smart
So now you know me
Better act like you know me
I’m willing if you willing
If you willing to come to garden
but it don’t matter it don’t matter.
Let the people say Ache. Amen.
As-Salaam-Alaikum.

Letter to Dead Negroes
in Cyberspace

are you there
anybody home
on the moon
text me
while giving head
i'll know you're alive maybe
head ain't no real indication
the dead walk and chew gum

cell phone black berry i phone
you phone
me no phone
dropping out
send me esp
read my mind in black space
you so smart
send me a thought from east coast dirty south
i will know
don't worry bout how
keep your i phone in yo pocket
while making love please
are you the prez
what's so important
you ain't
so relax
make love wit da one ya wit
fo you be singin bout papers
a golf club upside yo head
po tiger
billion dollar nigguh
can't fuck in peace

don't call me
i don't want to hear
same conversation every day
can't change the subject to save yo life
nigguh please
beat a bata or djembe to me
that loud arrogant drum
talkin war talk
send me that message
or none at all. save your words
for some ignut nigguh wit no thoughts
no ideas no dreams
he just raps rhymes all day
talk with him or listen
to nursery rhymes
til you sleep
sleep little baby sleep.
1/9/10



We're In Love, But You Don't Know Me

You don't know me
you had a chance to know me
before we made love
you had a chance to know my mind
understand my fears
learn about issues
help me heal some things
but you wanted to make love
so you don't know me
we made love
but you don't know me
don't have a clue
think I'm a good d
or some good tight p
but you don't know me
and never will now
because you wanted to make love
you wanted to get a nut
we didn't even talk much
a little bit leading up to sex
I went along
I was horny too
but you don't know me
and I don't know you
now we never will
we blew it forever
because we made love
too fast too quick too soon
now you think you own me
I can't breathe
can't talk on the phone to friends
because we made love
because I gave you some d
you gave me some p
now I'm no longer human
I'm your love slave you my slave
we're in love
but you don't know me
we gonna get married
but you don't know me
we're gonna have children
but you don't know me
you're gonna beat my ass
but you don't know me
you're going to jail
but you don't know me
we're getting a divorce
but you don't know me
now we're friends
"Just Friends" Charlie Parker tune
But you don't know me
and never will.

Growing Up


Although I wanted it all the time
I didn't think the day would come
to wear my father's clothes
his fedora and Panamanian hats
double breasted suits
Stacey Adam shoes shined
at Perry's on Seventh Street
in West Oakland

I didn't think I would be a man like dad
though I wanted to be a man like dad
every son wants to be like dad
even when dad is mad.

and then I became him
in all his negrocities
his race man status
silence to children
misunderstanding of women
my mother especially
a real woman of her time
independent spiritual
a counselor to all
a business woman
beyond my father's understanding
yet he taught her many things
for a country girl

did I understand my wives
all beautiful intelligent aggressive
much like myself
how could i not understand myself
beyond gender but a spiritual thing

and then the decline
starched shirts a ring around the collar
suits a little piss stain there
a slowing down of public places
organizations associations
i became him
and then i was grandfather
no longer dad
on my knees with grandson
playing with toys, animals and men
trucks and buildings
counting books in english and swahili
one is umoja
grandson said don't save the world
play with me grandpa
and so i joined his world
he said at two years old
I know how to behave properly
i suppose his mother taught him to say this
he loves michael jackson on youtube
but not the thriller
no no no
smooth operator
billie jean
beat it
remember the time
not thriller
not michael dancing with those zombies
he runs from thriller
don't like those zombies
says he will shoot them
if they come to his mama's house
grandpa you stab them but i'm gonna shoot them zombies.

And so it is
son to father
father to grandfather
elder to ancestor.
such is the circle
seed to flower
flower withers
drops to earth
a seed is born.
--Marvin X
1/31/10



In My Solitude
for The Duke


In loneliness
Where is the joy
Where is the room of friends
to hug, laugh, drink, dance
Emptiness abounds
a life lived fully til now
When the undertaker takes us all
dirt icing on the cake of our lives
Lived to the max
yet In the end the grave
Not the joy of friends in the night
lovers forgotten gone where
where are the whores Fillmore
gangsta brown
so we sit at the table alone
Devouring Hennessey and Bailey’s
A truth serum to proof my books
Why lie?
we do the daily drill
another funeral until we are numb of eulogies
When we know better
We know he was a dirty motherfucker
His wife called him such every day of their togetherness
we smile at the repast
Giggle at the come on of old lovers bout to bit the dust
Yet it is all good
This life this death All good
We did it our way no regrets
The wives
ungrateful bastard children
the good children we love so much so much
money spent foolishly on dope
books written for fools who never read a word
Yet claim to be experts on our style, theme, myth
Who are these frauds
wizards of academe
Revisionist liars
Careerists Agents in the night
Collaborators with colonialism
The elite who crossed the veil
from inside the secret chamber of blackness
Yet they failed to decipher Supreme Wisdom
Thank God Allah.
We out of here
thank God Allah.
--Marvin X 11/1/09




A Day We Never Thought



Inside chambers of our mind
We yearned freedom
Not knowing the fullness thereof
In centuries of debate and suffering
Of whip and breaking of bones
We never thought
No sliver of hope
No prayers for this
Surely wasted
We went about our day
Our madness couched in faith
Yet pain and doubt persisted Into the night
Children taught to hate
Fathers gone mad with drink
Mothers whoring to save the children

Yet we never thought
A day like this would come
a distant star
We cannot believe its twinkle
So far
years become centuries
Long and hard
We cannot bear this pain
This waiting in the sun
What shall we do
where shall we go
The night is upon us
Were we born into this night
This darkness of skin
Was this the meaning of our shame
To overcome all odds
To defeat the devil
celebrate our Lord
Keep the faith
We shall win the race
Like Dr. Clark taught
This is not for sprinters
Only long distance runners
Even this day is not the end
Just another beginning
A sign along the route
Letting us know
the best is yet to come
In the fullness of the moon
We shall dance the holy dance
Late into the night
It is only a moment
Precious and bold
Hard fought deserved
Like a meal after work
Yet we never thought
We would return to our father’s house
Our royal robes adorn
We dance into the new day
We know joy and rain
We know the pain of African men in power
Who want to be president for life
Who crush and break the people
Banish and burn alive all opposition
We know the West
We have such brutes in our midst
We know their terror
We know our sweat and blood at their hands
A day we never thought
Keeping eyes open
Ever on the alert
Do not depart our post
Relief shall come
No matter the doubt
The sun has never missed a day
So how come a day we never thought
Why did this day seem so impossible
Our suffering ancestors said bottom rail top
They sang sorrow songs
Knowing life is full
Resistance every day all day
Like the people of Gaza
We cannot be broken
And so this is a moment of joy
On the journey up the hill
the rock of Sisyphus in hand
We can make it to the top
a thought to action
A unified thrust smashing all doors
Leaping all walls
Crashing ceilings forever
This is who we are
Warriors of the king
smash fear
Resist every hurtful thing
Shoot it down fast
Keep on keepin’ on
A day we never thought.
--Marvin X
1.17.09






Mama's Bones



They want Mama's bones
no flesh no blood
just bones
dry
empty bones
they will be happy then
sucking her bones
wouldn't wash her feet
give something to eat
just bones
was all they cried
went to court over bones
didn't have time for Mama's love
tender touch
tales of old south
mourning husband
long gone
maybe she loved him
gave him four children
why wouldn't she still love him
think of him
wonder why he let white supremacy drown him in drink
and then came her son
the ghost of father
drunk
but caring
loving
faithful
just drunk
his father's pain
unresolved addiction to white supremacy oppression
The ghost of emmit jackson

Mama's bones remain
they scramble over them
fighting like mad dogs
bones dry
no meat
no blood.

Love is for the Beloved


Love is for the beloved
Selfless totally
Agent of joy
At one’s pleasure
Desire
Transcending self
Love is all there is
Like a good deal at the Flea Market
You can’t pass.
Gotta squeeze ya real tight.
Reasons.
self to divine self
Get real with love
Up from animal
monkey mind
Illusions
Listen to the whirlwind of Garvey
Motherplane is here for you
Better ax somebody,
Houston TX
Denial of self
Sweet submission
What is beyond giving all
We feed you for Allah’s pleasure only
We desire from you neither reward nor thanks.
Al Qur’an.


Lesbian

They won't talk to me
look at me
walk pass me
every daye
yes
straight ahead
no contact, no glance
no love
is it hatred
is it madness
sadness
insanity
what is it
this strange thing
a bundle of sexuality
nothing more
we assume
just nothingness
strange love
not beyond the sex
what love is this
not agape
some strange love
from the void
beyond normal and natural
is anyting there
anybody home
a loveless temple
a dildo of joy
yet hatred in the night for the real deal holyfield
what is this
this scam
this fake ritual of love
come
come
please come
and see the light of love
see the light of madness
but do yo thing
I am me and you are you
do yo thing and I do mine
to you your thing and to me mine
I do not do what you do
nor do you do what I do
to you your way
and to me mine.
But I ain't mad at cha.
love and peace.
2/1/10

A Poem for Unresolved Grief

When thy lover has gone to eternity
When touch is no longer
to feel in the night and in the day
The smile walk
sweetness of body
kissing of lips breasts thigh
When thy lover has gone
A day we never imagine
For love blinds us to things
yet the day came like a cloud of thunder rain
Pouring down upon our head
drowning us in sorrow of the worse kind
We cannot walk but listen each day
her voice message til we are taken away
we want to hear for the last time
the voice of love
For all the joy we shared
blending of two into one
thinking of two into one

When thy lover has gone
We are worse than dead
yet alive to suffer a pain no man can know
Who has never loved
a true love we say we want but never get
But we have lived what few ever know
the touch feel constant smile

When thy lover has gone
earth opens for the mate as well
no tears enough
No silent moments to get over matters of the heart

We are confined in the prison of life
and wish to leave for other worlds
to see if we can meet again
The one so kind so true

But life keeps us here bound like slave to master
Yet we yearn for paradise
for life is love and love has gone
desire is great and pain a mountain
We go to familiar places but are lost
cannot find the way home
We call a friend to pick us up
take us there
And there we sit in stupor
thinking of the days joy ruled our world
joy has gone never to return.
Lord help us through the day the night

It hurts to breathe to think
to see a picture of our lover
We try til night consumes us and we sleep
Hoping tomorrow will be a better day.

II

To heal the missing part of you
To feel again the love of yesterday
To realize what is gone cannot return
Flesh is frail
Spirit lives
In the day in the night
The challenge the task
To know we are spirit
Of the Great Spirit
We flow with the flow
Not the flesh,
body a vessel
Never put faith in flesh
Enjoy the moment
Treasure seconds of the day
Romantic hours of the night
physical shall pass
Then what shall we do
confounded
Perplexed
depressed
Stuck against the wall
sitting like a frog on a lily pad

Flow in the flow of the Great River
Sail down the Nile Niger Mighty Congo
Do not drown
reality is transitory
Except the metaphysical macrocosmic truth inside of you
Love continues into the ancestor tree
Beyond the pain the sorrow the lost
Tears in the night
Love can be found again
If we try if we stand
As Rumi taught
reeds in the reed bed stand alone
Yet all together
The reed flute is a song of mourning
A yearning to return
Through the door of no return
the flute plays the song of joy
A communal chant in the sun
Sing
the world will bless you
Praise you sing
For your song of sorrow is gone
The healing complete
Live again and love
Reach touch somebody
Breathe out the pain
Exhale the misery
Love is in the air wind
It blows your way
Listen to the wind
Listen to the sound of your flute.
--M
12/22/07

Song for Reginald Madpoet

And so my friend my comrade
a journey complete
We began in Black House
You with us
Eldridge, Amiri, Sonia, Askia, Ed
Bullins, Ethna, Avotcja,
Amina(pregnant with Obalaji),
Emory,
Sarah Fabio

West Coast BAM
(Black Arts Movement)
“Artistic freedom fighters”
Robeson said.
Consciousness of a Nation
You birthed
word magic
all magic word magic
the bird sings bass now
What was the sound of your lover
she found you in bed
Sleeping silently
Making your way home to eternity.
--Marvin X
5.20.08


Benazir Bhutto
1953-2007

Ya, Bhutto
Who are these people
Who kill fathers sons daughters
What God do they serve
What ghost in the night
Is there money enough
Power enough
Greed enough
Murder enough
To satisfy this beast
Who devours all in path

The children of the poor are not safe
Even children of the rich
This monster is vile
His teeth a wicked bite
Snatching like Godzilla

Ya, Bhutto
you came home preaching freedom
But there are those who cry freedom
But mean slavery
There are those who pray in the mosque
Then murder in the street
who crush the spirit
Who silence poets
their freedom songs
Who deny the humanity of women
What God is this
Who empowers these devils
with venom
Worse than the cobra’s sting

Ya Bhutto
What now in that sacred land
Shall your sons take the mantle
Shall the children cower in fear
Or face the guns bombs
Paid by the Mighty Beast
Who shouts democracy
But means slavery
Who allows dictators to crush opposition
To be president for life.
He discards his general uniform
To dawn the suit and tie of Shaitan
To claim the persona of the puppet
Who smiles in tears
Choking from hanging.

Ya, Bhutto,
you tried
To bring a better day
But demons must play their drama
Their dance in the night
will never put down their butcher knives
Never turn into Buddha heads.
More sacrifice
judges and lawyers are not enough
soldiers must accept flowers from the people
Not slaughter in the streets
There are not jails enough to confine freedom
The torture chambers may fill to overflow
freedom must rise.

Ya, Bhutto, your last the magic word: Allah.
Surely we are from Allah
And to Him we return.
12/28/07

Dis Ma Hair

i don’t have my own hair
i don’t know why
but it ain’t my own
weave
glue
stew
dye
fry
lock
what is natural to me
dis ma hair
i can do what i please
boy friend/girl friend
dis ma hair
i do this fa me not fa you
don’t give a fuck bout you
dis ma hair
I can weave it
Glue it
Lock it
Stock it
Conk it
Gerri curl it
Marcel it
Dis ma hair
Leave me lone
Dis ma hair
Blond wig cocked ace-duce
Dis ma hair
You can suck me fuck me
But dis ma hair
Call me Korean
European
Ghetto fab
Call me from the dead
But dis ma hair.

Revised 2008


Ancestors II

I thought I was my father
I came to know him when my sons rejected me in life and death
For did I not reject him
He came to see Flowers For the Trashman
Wasn’t happy
What did I care
arrogant bastard
then I became him
in old age
looked like him
loved like him
pants became pissy
drawers shitty
shirts dirty
but at least he danced
went clubbing
gambling
casinos casinos casinos
not for me
had my addictions
afflictions
worse than gambling
with life itself
and so am I myself
or I my father
grandfather
Johnny Murrill
Farmer
Worked the land
Picked cotton
Cut grapes
Fucked off the money
Chinatown Fresno
Busted in El Gato Negro
Granny sent uncle stan and mom to save grandpa
Lost in El Gato Negro
Worked all week in the field
Fucked it off in El Gato Negro
Uncle stan brought grandpa out to car
We sat in car on G Street before the underpass.

Ancestors
Granny
The woman I loved more than Mom
Granny’s hands were my hands
Soft, warm, loving, caring, showing, telling,
Said my brother Ollie was going to end up in the pen
Said it over and over that boy go end up in pen
And he did like Granny said
Whole life in the pen
Granny
Lovin you so much
Missin you so much

Great grandpa Ephraim
A man after my heart
A man who saw Abe Lincoln
Twenty years of slavery
Before it ended finally and forever
Epharim Murrill
Farmer foreman
Master of men and land
Epharim
Known throughout the central valley of cali
Madera, Fresno, Fowler, Handford, Lemoore,
Came same time as Col. Allensworth, 1909

What did you and Col. plot and plan
What did you know
What black towns did you see
What sovereignty what freedom did you know?
Did you know the neo nile valley
Did you know the green giant
Osiris
Did you know crucifixion?
Did Isis search for you in the mythology of pussy
Did she find you in the mythology of dick
Mythology of love
See the Song of Solomon
See Ecleastics

Tell us from the grave what you know
I did not know you great grandpa
Respected by blacks and whites
How did you do this
What manner of man
Tell me great grandpa
What wisdom did you know
What mythology what ritual?
--Marvin X
11/28/09


Facing Mt. Kenya


Lord let us pray
Great Ancestor save us this hour
We have shamed you in our wickedness
shedding of blood
Even into the Lord’s House we bring machetes
Slaughtering the innocent
Even the babies
Vote for me, I’ll set you free
And freedom is slavery of the worst kind
What evil spirit has come among us
What strange language this democracy
Brother against brother, tribe against tribe
Oh, Mt. Kenya
Who gave birth to us all
Raise your hands in mercy
We are lost in the forest
Cannot find the way home
Where is our king, where is our queen
What of manhood rites
rites for women
They did not teach us slaughter
Did we learn this at Oxford and Harvard



Help us, Mt. Kenya
This is not the way of the Great Spirit
Not even the way of the jungle beast
This madness for power and greed
Vote for me, I’ll set you free.
Freedom is worse than slavery

We refuse to share
transcend tribe for nation
We the great people
Who became little people
Not the tall Masai warriors
but pigmy of the forest
our heads fat with evil
no justice among the brotherhood
There is no Kwanza
No celebration of harvest
No seven principles of love
Only madness
From Kenya to Somalia
From Sudan to Congo
From Nigeria to Zimbabwe
From Fillmore to Harlem
New Orleans to Philly
Ancestors gather to wail
The people have lost their way
Aping Western man
Voting his way
People starve in the shanties
Politicians order fleets of Mercedes
The colonialists and their lackeys
Brought this chaos
They set borders and boundaries in days past
He taught the schools or filled them with tom teachers
He gave us his language his God
we have lived in misery ever since
At least during the colonial wars
We fought the good cause
But what is this today
Another Rwanda
We learn no lessons
Master no courses in civility
Make fools of history
At this hour let us bow down to. Mt. Kenya
Mt. Kilimanjaro
And cry out mercy and forgiveness
We have sinned like the Western man
We are white with evil
Paint our faces white and wade into Lake Victoria
Wade into the ocean
Cleanse the blood from our hands
Put down the machetes
We are the Great Nation
who gave birth to humanity
Let us return to the course the Ancestors taught
Let us find our way from the forest to the sea.

--M
1/3/08

O, Kora

Elegy for John D

O, Kora
Sound of my mother
singing from Heaven
Touching her special son
If he will do God’s will
He shall be successful.

O, Kora
sound of all the women
who loved unconditionally
the women I tried to love but failed
may they forgive me
Lord have mercy.

O, Kora
sound of women who speak without talking
Who take charge of their post
Mothers of Civilization

O, Kora
music to make a new world
Peaceful
joyful
everyday a holy day
gifts to those we love.

I mourn the passing of John Douimiba
Founder Black Men Conference, 1980
Oakland Auditorium
Praise be to John D.
We raise his name to heaven forever
coming in our midst
By way of Hausa
kidnapped to Brazil
Nat Turner’s people
North Carolina
Dallas Texas
no god but Allah in house.
extends North American African Islam
envisioned black president
Told us watch that boy Obama
last words watch that boy Obama
Our john the Baptist
John D
The Count in Malcolm’s world
Malcolm saw John organize Los Angles
Told John organize Nation of Islam, San Francisco.
Merchant Seaman
When he came back from across water
helped Aaron Ali, Bernard Cushmeer
expand mosque, SF.
John's plan organize block by block.
wanted secular organization
all things orbit black man in America.
witness Obama in the White House.
John smiling in heaven/paradise.
joyful to see 9/11
So happy
Never thought he’d see master hit in eye.
knocked in head on 9/11.

The Kora has stolen my heart
like a young woman in arms of old man
He will do flips over young girl
She refreshes his heart
like strings of Kora
Music from Heaven
Better than harp violin
command me Holy God Allah.
Young girl tells old man she lousy in bed.
Sing voices of ancestors
Pluck strings of Kora.
I am alive
I walk with rhythm and rhyme.
John helped set up the little manger
brothers and sisters raised from the dead....

I am overcome
I cannot continue this story.
My teacher is gone
I am like Rumi
who lost Shams of Tabriz
I am lost
I whirl and whirl and whirl
poetry flows
I whirl and sing whirl and sing.
I sing of love and God Allah
I sing of Buddha
Jesus
Krishna.
My teacher who taught me to act is gone
Learn how to act Marvin X
You know not how to act in theatre of life

Oh, John D.
Ayatollah of the Bay
Black Men’s Conference elder
15 years before MMM
We love you John
no matter from where you came
Hausland
Brazil
North Carolina
Dallas
no matter
Al Hamdulilah!
Master teacher
Philosopher/King, Terry Collins said
John/Yahya, life giver
my love and honor.

12.28.08

Who Are These Jews?

Who are these Jews
Vandals from Europe
Who know best how to murder, slaughter, bomb lie
Claiming holy land
Chosen of God they say
Lord let us pray
If they are his chosen
Jesus condemned the synagogue of Satan
Abraham’s children?
Where is the work of Abraham?
peace love faith
these are devils
Murderers liars
Usurpers Crusaders
from some place
Maybe outer space
Why did Hitler treat them so mean?
look how they act
in the holy land of God
Bombing to hell people with nothing
Half a century nothing
water food medicine
Hospitals mosques schools
smashed to smithereens
Who are these Jews?
God’s holy people
Seizing homes of others
Yet they come in peace
peace with your planes
Bombs, warships, tanks, soldiers
no security even with nukes
What will secure you
make you safe in the night
The Wall
American sycophants

media Zionists tell fairy tales on Fox,
CNN, NPR and Pacifica
Even Amy Goodman is not good

While you destroy the land of God
can the devil claim God’s land
may take a hundred years
like the Crusaders
You shall depart one day
Not back to Europe
but some place
Probably space
there you will challenge the sun
Or fight the dead moon
Somewhere is a place for you
Who claim shalom alaikum
Yet never Palestinians
land of their own
Return of refugees
your children pee in bed
Children of Gaza bombed
death in beds, schools,
Hospitals
Who are these Jews
Who are not Jews
the Synagogue of Satan?

You leave Gaza in jail
No exit no democracy
Even after their vote
Hamas is their choice
Leave them alone
Let them build their state their way
not yours
America’s
Egypt’s
Saudi Arabia’s
Jordan’s
Their way
Maybe rockets will be silent
Maybe then peace
Maybe then world will not tire of you
hate you
Will accept you with love
brotherhood.

be aware battles you win
it is not winning the war
There are powers greater than guns, planes,
Nukes, lies, phony claims, fake chosen ness
To hell with your God, your holy books
Myths made in America
white house you rule
Made in Jewyork
Your home away from home

Past time for Palestinian State
see the world wearing Kafiyas
scarf of suffering people
scarf of blood and tears
Betrayed by leaders who steal
dine in Europe
who sell out to Satan in the night
refugee camps half a century
Leaders who must be lead
since they are blind
Who are these Jews?

For Jerri Jackmon


With love honor thee
Jerri
Wife of my
Son
Mother of Jordan and Jazmin
Jerri
We love you
honor you
miss you
Yet you are here
Feeling, touching, speaking, loving
Wonderful you

Stepping to front of line with mister big
Blessing him
Jordan and Jazmin
Praise be to God
There is life after death
pain hurt misery

No closure ever
false construction

Silent suffering
Mountains of time
Fading love
Yet love never moves sways
We love you Jerri
In our prayers libations
You are there
In the water in the wine
Your energy/spirit
of the Jackmon
Family
demanding you are Jackmon too
we love you for this Jerri

We see you tall strong
Fighting frailties
We see you
Matching Mr. Big
Loving tenderly
mother, lover, wife
Church woman
Commanding directing
Jerri take us on
Into the Upper Room.
11.1.08


When Lemmie Died
end of an era
beginning of another
A horrible time
worst of times
Without food money
Worldwide
In the hood
No rice and beans
No money gas
No mortgage
rent
And Lemmie died
Soldier of misfortune
natural born dud
Born in Tennnessee
Raised in Muncie
Then San Francisco
State College/ Univeristy
Post Office
Cutting of penis on the job
shacked with cousin Darlene Turner
she said he would never be a man at the Post Office.
became teacher
black women made him retire early.
Lemmie universal
French woman baby
He returned
apartment with Marvin X
Shared ho’s.
Lemmie
My man
miss you brother
Soldier
Natural born dude
army said
But Lemmie
My man
My brother
showed me love
Lemmie
Keep us a room in eternity.

4/26/08

And then the end

And then the end
No more sin
Righteousness no matter
new age
Innocence ignorance not bliss
terror in the night and day
Not knowing will not prevail
Only doing seeking will save
Multitudes running amuck
Inches from tsunami then we drown
Consumed by saliva
Little did we know
time told us show was over
We lingered until dawn
then we sank
bottomless pit welcomed us home
we are kind to each other
On the love boat south
Without end or port
Into the emptiness of our mind
dread time foretold
we sleept dreaming of nothingness
Pull comforter over head
Afraid of dark and light
we have become this thing
bundle of fear confounded by it all
As if we weren’t told
As if we didn’t know and couldn’t see
Yet we walked each day
leaves falling into snow
sound of trumpets
howl of wolves
we walked over precipice
children held our hand until limp

into the chasm with us
even family was not enough
lovers or friends or buddies of childhood
all in the chasm
searching for fire wood in darkness.

How Does it feel to be a Nigger
How does it feel to be a nigger
to be hunted
wanted
watched
betrayed
to be the cause of original sin
sub prime scam
fall of wall street
crime in the night
terrorism
immigration
teenage pregnancy
ignorance
sloth
fall of white house
fall of america
fall of russia
cause of it all
niggers
end of capitalism socialism communism
fall of jerusalem
caused nazism
fascism
he's why the sea rising
caused katrina
gulf oil spill
castro
chavez
bush I and II
nixon
caused korea vietnam world war I and II
niggers
wouldn't sit in back of bus
would not eat in the colored section
sleep in colored section
wouldn't take lynching with smile
wanted freedom
wanted justice
wanted equality
just a problem
inconvenience to the world
we could have peace
if the niggers would behave
leave our women alone
stop stealing our music
our jazz
our blues
our rock and roll
our bar b que
our chitlins
our greens
our corn bread
dirty rice
sweet tea
niggers
we created all this
not niggers
how can sagging pants create
can't even walk
we created rap
they didn't
they lie
like a nigger
like tom
like nat turner
like gabriel prosser
like denmark vessey
like toussaint
like bokman
nigger lies
nigger knives
nigger flies
why won't they leave us alone
we want peace
they make us fight
trillion dollars a year for guns
to keep them niggers at bay
they keep coming
over the border
out the woods
out the allies
through the jungle
bringing diamonds
gold
uranium
cobolt
copper
bauxite
plutonium
zinc
where do they get it from
niggers
they rich but poor
why do they still
have babies
we don't want babies
we gay, lesbian
niggers need to be like us
we told the preacher to tell them niggers be gay, be lesbian
he said ok
niggers.
will the world be free
niggers still in slavery
wanting a job
didn't we work them enough
four centuries
they still want a job
they crazy
insane
stupid
ugly
sloth.
when will they wake up
see the light
ain't the sun shining on a nigger's behind
--Marvin X
10/6/10





No Black Fight




no johnson
no Ali
no Lewis
no Sugar Ray
No Black fight
no fists no backbone
no elbow grease
no stamina
no long distance runner
no champion in the ring
no nationalist
no fearless men
no fearless women
no ancestor consciousness
no cry for justice
no liberty or death
no justice no peace
no death do us part
no nothing
no housing
no job
no medical
no music
only smooth
only fusion
delusion
no community
only multicultural
diluted polluted
convoluted
gentrified
homogenized
pasteurized
are you surprised
no Fillmore
no Harlem
no DC
no Philly
no ATL
where shall you dwell
in hell
the empire falls
no news to you
the Republic falls
where shall you be
what part shall you grab
shall you stand
with dick in hand
heart racing
Whites take theirs
Latinos too
Asians too
Gays/lesbians too
what will you do
stuck on stupid
walking like ducks
pigeons
reverse evolution
moon walking like Michael
remember the time
look at the man in the mirror
no look
no memory
smoke yo blunt
life up in smoke
we did the same
24/7
Daddy it's too much smoke in yo house!
No love for woman
children
siblings
neighbors
friends
no nothing
no God
no devil
lone stranger
rides into sunset
no Tonto
no tomorrow
no yesterday
no now.
Women cry,
I hate weak nigguhs!
Men cry, I hate punk bitches!
no unity
no dialogue
no consensus
no plan
no game
no respect
no win.
--Marvin X
10/30/10

A Praise Song for Askia Toure

Warrior man master wordsmith
lyrical singer of liberation
in the wilderness of north america
slayer of beasts dragons demons of the mind heart soul of trashmen
down from warriors
up from slavery
up from ignot
up from negrocities (baraka term)
Askia we love you the world over
those who know and don't know
love is a spirit thing my man
you are not forgotten in history your hands made
your love songs to African queens your poems made
thrilling us with the magic of your mind
I was there when the walls of Spelman fell from the power of
your poem Venus and Serena
black women wailed with joy
I saw you afraid of your own word power
I was afraid of the earthquake you unleashed
Mighty Man do not be afraid history will deny your deeds
don't worry about acadeem and media freaks of capitalism and slavery
just do the work
ancestors shall rejoice
the living and yet unborn shall cry tears of joy at the warrior blood in your pen.
Peace and love,
--Marvin X
Houston, Texas
2009

Bank the Bankers

Bank the bankers

Fleeing Russia with pants in hand

Fleeing Wall Street cross Brooklyn Bridge

The fundamentals are sound said Bush/McCain

Then Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae bit the dust

Bank the bankers

communists in capitalist drag

robbery workers union

Homeless in the snow

Bankers ski in the Alps

Gleaming Wall Street Journal

Sliding down the slope

Champagne on ice

Bank the bankers

Bear Sterns

Washington Mutual

Bank of America

Thieves in the night

Who is Federal Reserve?

To workers in the cold

Who is the Treasury?

grandma’s house gone

She in shelter bout to stroke

Don’t understand no sub prime loan

Her son took out

gone on dope

Like the president

Drunk in white house

Fundamentally sound

ride out crisis

Don’t lose yo cool

tells American people

Fleeing Katrina and Ike

Hurricane hit Wall Street

Taxpayers took tab

Bank the bankers

Let them taste jail

Eat zoo zoos and wham whams

There is no end in sight

Let the dollar fly in air

bankers don’t care

They home by the fire

In the pickle room

don’t care

workers no homes

No car

No stocks, no bonds, retirement gone

Burial insurance in hand,. thank God

What good is that?

Bank the bankers

Those loose loaning pigs

Even the jobless got loans

Bankers didn’t care

Sell the notes to China, Russia

Saudi Arabia

Sell Citibank and Chase

Sell America to whomever

Give a loan to whomever

No credit check

No collateral

No job

Sell America

Sell yo mama

Bankers don’t care

Greed rules this day

heartless have their homes

summer & winter retreats

Bank the bankers

Let them eat pizza on Riker’s Island

Or Leavenworth.

--Marvin X