Deniece Williams: Black Butterfly

Remembering Dad

	Good afternoon, As the father of two young daughters, I know that being a father is one of the most important jobs any man can have. My own father left my family when I was two years old. I was raised by a heroic mother and wonderful grandparents who provided the support, discipline and love that helped me get to where I am today, but I still felt the weight of that absence throughout my childhood. It's something that leaves a hole no government can fill. Studies show that children who grow up without their fathers around are more likely to drop out of high school, go to jail, or become teen fathers themselves. And while no government program can fill the role that fathers play for our children, what we can do is try to support fathers who are willing to step up and fulfill their responsibilities as parents, partners and providers. That's why last year I started a nationwide dialogue on fatherhood to tackle the challenge of father absence head on. In Chicago, the Department of Health and Human Services held a forum with community leaders, fatherhood experts and everyday dads to discuss the importance of responsible fatherhood support programs. In New Hampshire, Secretary of Education Duncan explored the linkages between father absence and educational attainment in children. In Atlanta, Attorney General Holder spoke with fathers in the criminal justice system about ways local reentry organizations, domestic violence groups and fatherhood programs can join together to support ex-offenders and incarcerated individuals who want to be closer to their families and children. Now we're taking this to the next level. Tomorrow, I'll make an announcement about the next phase of our efforts to help fathers fulfill their responsibilities as parents -- The President's Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative. You can learn more at www.fatherhood.gov. This Father's Day -- I'm thankful for the opportunity to be a dad to two wonderful daughters. And I'm thankful for all the wonderful fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers and friends who are doing their best to make a difference in the lives of a child. Happy Father's Day. Sincerely, President Barack Obama

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

from Sweet Tea/Dirty Rice, poems, Marvin X, Black Bird Press, late 2010.

Deniece Williams: Black Butterfly

"Ai du" live by Vieux Farka Toure @ Joe's Pub

Misty

Misty

for Verdia Pope, in memoriam

and what about all the forgotten women and men in our lives
the one night stands
the lies we told in the bar, then the hotel suite
remembering nothing the next morning
by next year the face is forgotten
a one night stand
on the road to...
it was a moment to forget
or remember fondly
if the lover had a pleasant attitude and didn't suffer sex guilt
because it was what it was
but it was over in an instant,
a good nut and good night
please don't call
I have a husband and/or wife
there are children
you cannot visit
let it be what it was
a moment in the sun
the illusion of joy
don't get serious at the pleasures of life when they come
enjoy the good times
and when the bad times come
roll with the punches.
--Marvin X

from Sweet Tea/Dirty Rice, poems, by Marvin X, Black Bird Press, late 2010.

Poem: If You're Still The Same Afterwards

POEM: IF YOU'RE STILL THE SAME AFTERWARDS

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photo by Alex Lear

IF YOU'RE STILL THE SAME AFTERWARDS

IT WASN'T LOVE

(to nia, thanx for making me better)

to say

"i am touched

by you"

is to be

changed

/ into

a person neither of us

was before

entering the other

more open, a sun of sensitivity

emotionally nude, erupting joy

& willing to kiss life open mouthed

emoting the vibrancy of glow

endemic to souls in the flow

in fact, it's even unscientific

not to evol

ve/not to love, not to

grow & give back

the only humans who actually evolve

are lovers

all others

just simply fuck and reproduce

the transformation

of touch

that's all

love is

—kalamu ya salaam

Kalamu ya salaam is one of the founders of the Southern Black Arts Movement.

And then there are Angels

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
thou 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

from Sweet Tea/Dirty Rice, poems, by Marvin X, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, late 2010.
$19.95, pre-publication price $15.00 (includes priority mailing).

X’s poems vibrate, whip, love in the most meta- and physical ways imaginable and un-. He’s got the humor of Pietri, the politics of Baraka, and the spiritual Muslim grounding that is totally new in English –- the ecstasy of Hafiz, the wisdom of Saadi. It’s not unusual for him to have a sequence of shortish lines followed by a culminating line that stretches a quarter page –- it is the dance of the dervishes, the rhythms of a Qasida.
--Bob Holman, Bowery Poetry Club, New York City

The Dead in Cyberspace

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

Palestine

PALESTINE

by Marvin X

(El Muhajir)

I am not an Arab, I am not a Jew

Abraham is not my father, Palestine is not my home

But I would fight any man

Who kicked me out of my house

To dwell in a tent

I would fight

To the ends of the earth

Someone who said to me

I want your house

Because my father lived here

Two thousand years ago

I want your land

Because my father lived here

Two thousand years ago.

Jets would not stop me

From returning to my home

Uncle toms would not stop me

Cluster bombs would not stop me

Bullets I would defy.

No man can take the house of another

And expect to live in peace

There is no peace for thieves

There is no peace for those who murder

For myths and ancient rituals

Wail at the wall

Settle in "Judea" and "Samaria"

But fate awaits you

You will never sleep with peace

You will never walk without listening.

I shall cross the River Jordan

With Justice in my hand

I shall return to Jerusalem

And establish my house of peace,

Thus said the Lord.

© 1976 by Marvin X ( El Muhajir)

Marvin X is an Oakland (CA) based African-American poet/playwright/activist, one of the
founders of the Black Arts Movement. According to Dr. Mohja Kahf, he
is the father of Muslim American Literature. Bob Holman calls him “The
USA’s Rumi." Ishmael Reed calls him “Plato teaching on the streets of Oakland.
Marvin X has Academy of Da Corner, downtown Oakland at 14^th and Broadway,
outside. He also tours and speaks nationwide at universities and colleges, most
recently at Howard University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, University of Virginia, University of Houston, University of Penn, Temple University, Medgar Evers College, University of Arkansas and elsewhere. He has taught at San Francisco State University, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, San Diego, Fresno State University, Mills College, University of Nevada, Reno. He has received writing fellowships from Columbia University and the National Endowment

for the Arts and planning grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities. His website link is http://www.parablesandfablesofmarvinx.blogspot.com .His recent book is The Wisdom of Plato Negro, Parables/fables, Black Bird Press, Berkeley, 2010. His archives were acquired by the Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.

Round Midnight

Monk's gone
but I ain't blue
Monk's gone
but I ain't blue
where he's going
I'm going too.

Death is always around

trying to steal life

death is always around
trying to steal life
If it don't get the husband
It'll get the wife.

Monk's gone
but I ain't blue
Monk's gone
but I ain't blue.
--Marvin X
from Poems for North American Africans, Marvin X, Al Kitab Sudan Press, 1983.