Gotta give the Beautiful Black Men their flowers.
Beautiful Black Men is from Nikki Giovanni’s second self-published volume of poetry entitled “Black Judgement.” Which was also printed as a poster accompanied by art in 1969.
You can also listen to the spoken word rendition of the poem. On the album “Legacies: The Poetry of Nikki Giovanni.”
Beautiful Black Men
(With compliments and apologies
to all not mentioned by name)
i wanta say just gotta say something
bout those beautiful beautiful beautiful outasight
black men
with they afros
walking down the street
is the same ol danger
but a brand new pleasure
sitting on stoops, in bars, going to offices
running numbers, watching for their whores
preaching in churches, driving their hogs
walking their dogs, winking at me
in their fire red, lime green, burnt orange
royal blue tight tight pants that hug
what I like to hug
jerry butler, wilson pickett, the impressions
temptations, mighty mighty sly
don’t have to do anything but walk
on stage
and i scream and stamp and shout
see new breed men in breed alls
dashiki suits with shirts that match
the lining that complements the ties
that smile at the sandals
where dirty toes peek at me
and i scream and stamp and shout
for more beautiful beautiful beautiful
black men with outasight afros
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.