IT IS THE WRITINGS of the late great elder/ancestor Amiri Baraka (Leroi Jones) more so than anyone elses that remind me how much of a writer/poet I am not but wish to be. Amiri Barakas work causes pause and reflection EVERY TIME I read any of it, no matter how often Ive read it. I am humbly embarrassed by how mediocre my own work appears to be when set beside a single paragraph of such a giant. The masterful weaving of words brought to life by an epistemology rooted in the history, experience, struggles and triumphs of a much oppressed, much regulated, much degraded and criminalized people, serves as a constant reminder - like proverbs from a father to a son - that the entire landscape of Black aesthetic expression aint just entertainment, but is, in fact the entire history of a people interpreted creatively and must therefore be handled according to knowledge and context. #AmiriBaraka #AWarriorPoet #BluesPeople #BlackArt #GoodMorningDiaspora #TeaWithBaraka
Posted on: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 14:15:36 +0000
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