Mr. Africa Poetry Lounge!
The Black Jazz Smile
to lift up my horn & face the music
those black dots with white mathematical tails
to blow my soul through a white man's machine
& then allow white critic to tell me
what I blew
was either
Left (over)
Right (white)
or wrong (black song!)
to bare my self before an uncool scene
thus allowing millions to nourish &
steal from me
without me
receiving compensation, celebration
or fair explanation
Western world's way: EXPLOITATION
So to be a black jazz man & blowing an honest stick
(big masculine bag avoiding the faggot's trick)
is to be putdown
face the frowns
& be starved by white power's clowns
When he the blackman smiles in jazz
look for the sadness in his eyes
Written by Ted Joans (1928-2003)
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