Long Amer Poems

Translation of YESTERDAY WHEN I WAS YOUNG
By T. Wignesan
(Written by : Herbert Kretzmer)

(Variously sung in a host of styles, moods and orchestration by
exquisite soul-movers like Roberta Flack, Shirley Bassey, Charles Aznavour, Glen Campbell, Andy Williams,...

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Ne soyons pas rancunier – Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s “Let us not be bitter” by T. Wignesan

(Note : The fiery fearless rebel of Where we going (1964) and The Dawn is at Hand (1966) –...

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dousing your non-kinky hair
with peroxide in hopes of forming curly kinks
and without manipulation
the matted strands
finally intertwine
except your Peroxide Dreads
don’t resemble mind
            limp and still...

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WORLD WAR 1 ONE HUNDRED YEARS LATER 
(AMERICAN VERSION)
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS


Patriotic songs give us reason to cheer
Except when “over there” is over here
Living underground is no place to cherish
Cause in this place , you could...

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WORLD WAR 1 ONE HUNDRED YEARS LATER 
(AMERICAN VERSION)
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS


Patriotic songs give us reason to cheer
Except when “over there” is over here
Living underground is no place to cherish
Cause in this place , you could...

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Quand le jour se levera, la lumiere eclaira
la bonte divine nous reviendra et l'amour s'eclatera dans nous
voila les chemins menant de partout
les passagers et les amis de la mort sont la
les gardiens de la volonte...

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The 44th President “one who is blessed” in Swahili,
Happens to love his wife’s Shrimp Linguini.
His desk, in the senate office once belonged to Robert Kennedy!
Renegade Tried to make it in to an all black male...

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Each Block full of cops and stray shots that spot and show the stash rats and infinit trash 
speakers blast weed and hash dispatch mash whores and cash jealousy splash blood spills 
landfills alcoholics who...

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I  dreamt of what I  could  be
when  this faithful  deluge
give up 
when my day 
finally breaks

My bamboo bed
tripled  its size
and has only few sticks
still left 
Behold!
the depth of father’s...

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One morning long-ago, he calls together his executive board meeting, even those 
in attentance were amazed of his greeting's. O'Abraham was there as were Elijah and
Moses too. Also I'm comprehended to believe on this secred...

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“I Come From A People”
Written by Kim Tipton Scott

I come from a people...

Forced to labor from sun up
‘till after it had gone down
and from the fruits of this 
involuntary servitude
cotton...tobacco...and cane
an entire country was built
with...

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I am black, 
you are 
white... of 
course,
my blood 
is red, 
what 
colour is 
yours?
I am an 
African, 
you are an 
American,
The Sun is 
my skin, 
why do 
you tan?

'I am 
white, you 
are black',...

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Frightend children under the baobab
Of elders discourse playing
At the deep edge of rites
Of passages
With no Atlantic dream.

There is a beauty here
Before the other world began
Forgetting its origin
And taste
Of white milk in black breast
Beautifully caressing
The tongue
Outside...

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Americans are a people who have a story
Conceived in courage, forged in glory. 
With a moral idea as our unique foundation
And freedom for each as the heart of our nation.
We came to these shores from...

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Dreads swingin’
Golden brown skin
Deep south
Drawl
Cunning like 
A fox
Sharp as
An eagle
So strung out;
Me I mean 
Over your love
Security and protection
Is all I feel
In his arms
A familiarity
Like no other
With you I 
Feel back to
My roots
I can smell...

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Lord I'm trying to design lines to give sight to the blind
that Chuk D fight the power 1989

that Brand Nubian/BDP scriptures
trying to tell them slow down or loves gonna get cha

the whole games been infected...

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Hanging out on my front porch in East Capital 

dwellings on the SE side of town as we sip on a forty

and talking about who got smoked the other night... We 

all got them Project...

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Dare I chide you my child
For playing in the moonlight
With the children of those I know
Despise my kind and kin folks?

Dare  chide you my child
For daring to put aside
deep seated wounds I felt
Grievances of...

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What do you know about a nightmare coming true and a dream being just a dream?

What do you know about things looking one way, but they aren't always what they seem?

What do you know about...

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Brown skin							 
Skin brown							 
Always an insult						
Always a put down

Low expectations
No chance for a win
Cast down and locked up
Because of the color of my skin

I want to be somebody
Is there any hope for me
No, I...

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I am a Negro.

Young,gifted, and black.

I have been to the golden gates of heaven and felt the blazing heat of the doors to hell.

Then made my way back.

I have cried a sea full of tears.

I...

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A wind blows here
From distant far
Cold and rare
Swept from a star
And little bits
Of bones
And little bits
Of souls
Through the forest wanders
Filtered by trees.

A wind blows here
From distant stars
Set churning mere
sea like spars
Whipping
The flesh of belief
Sipping
Randomly
The Fahrenheit...

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THE PREY AND THE BAIT

Before and beyond time
Not one man will make a case
For such a pathetic story
Owing to self bigotry

You complain by the day
You murmur by the noon
At twilight, you sob by the way
And...

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I see you don't see me
Watching you
Watching me.
I know you don't hear me
Listening you
Listening me.

I am the invisible man
Muted
In your discourse of salvation
Distributed
Against your stereotype of expectation
Passed over
Beware of the returning progigal.

You shout to me
From...

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After leaving sweating bricks and rotten pus behind
We agreed our Moses was not blind
But then standing at desolate sea, we come to find
The army was galloping in our mind

If only we could be still, and...

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