April Is National Poetry Month!

April Is National Poetry Month!

Today I shine the spotlight on this revolutionary sister, a rebel with a cause, a political activist, an iconic Black Panther (BPP), and a former member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA). This Sister has written an autobiography entitled, “Assata: Autobiography,” detailing the events that unfolded on the New Jersey Turnpike and being granted political asylum in Cuba. Without further ado, Let me drop this jewel.

ASSATA SHAKUR

Affirmation 

I believe in living.

I believe in the spectrum

of Beta days and Gamma people.

I believe in sunshine.

In windmills and waterfalls,

tricycles and rocking chairs.

And I believe that seeds grow into sprouts.

And sprouts grow into trees.

I believe in the magic of the hands.

And in the wisdom of the eyes.

I believe in rain and tears.

And in the blood of infinity.

DDD

I believe in life.

And I have seen the death parade

march through the torso of the earth,

sculpting mud bodies in its path.

I have seen the destruction of the daylight,

and seen bloodthirsty maggots

prayed to and saluted.

DDD

I have seen the kind become the blind

and the blind become the bind

in one easy lesson.

I have walked on cut glass.

I have eaten crow and blunder bread

and breathed the stench of indifference.

DDD

I have been locked by the lawless.

Handcuffed by the haters.

Gagged by the greedy.

And, if I know anything at all,

it’s that a wall is just a wall

and nothing more at all.

It can be broken down.

DDD

I believe in living.

I believe in birth.

I believe in the sweat of love

and in the fire of truth.

DDD

And I believe that a lost ship,

steered by tired, seasick sailors,

can still, be guided home

to port.