FEATURED POEM

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THE YEAR OF THE BLACK PANTHER

© 2011 Norman Samuda Smith

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When I was a yout’, I never like to comb me hair

Me daddy tek me to barber shop, fe sit in a barber chair

Me baal, me cry, me run out de shop, waving me hands inna de air

After dat me mommy trim me hair to soothe me daddy dispair

Cha!

Me favourite animal is de Black Panther

I never know it was connected to me roots and culture

Like Marcus Garvey who tell we to look to Africa

It’s there we gonna see the crowned redeemer

And there was Malcolm X, yes the literal warrior

And Martin Luther King our spiritual leader

Cha!

Me fourteenth birthday was on a Saturday

Had a sprained ankle couldn’t go out to play

Fell asleep, had a dream, and dis is what it say

It say Normski, yuh gonna write a book one day

And nine years later me write a book and couple play

And de title of me book is call Bad Friday

Cha!

Dis poem is for you the Panther Newsletter reader

I hope it enlightens you about yuh roots and culture

And also world wide black literature

To all de contributors wave yuh hands inna de air

From me

To you

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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*All rights reserved.  No part of this poem may be reproduced in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the writer Norman Samuda Smith.*