A Democratic State Is Not Proven By

There Is A Man Who Exists As One Of The Most Popular Objects Of Leadership, Legislation, And Quasi-literature In The History Of All Men. . . . This Man, That Object Of Attention, Attack, And Vast Activity, Cannot Make Himself Be Heard, Let Alone Understood. He Has Never Been Listened To. . . . That Man Is Black And Alive In White America Where The Media Of Communication Do Not Allow The Delivery Of His Own Voice, His Own Desires, His Own Rage.

And If I If I Ever Let Love Go Because The Hatred And The Whisperings Become A Phantom Dictate I O- Bey In Lieu Of Impulse And Realities (the Blossoming Flamingos Of My Wild Mimosa Trees) Then Let Love Freeze Me Out. (from I Must Become A Menace To My Enemies)

As A Poet And Writer, I Deeply Love And I Deeply Hate Words.

If We Lived In A Democratic State Our Language Would Have To Hurtle, Fly, Curse, And Sing, In All The Common American Names, All The Undeniable And Representative And Participating Voices Of Everybody Here.

The Courts Cannot Garnish A Fathers Salary, Nor Freeze His Account, Nor Seize His Property On Behalf Of His Children, In Our Society. Apparently This Is Because A Kid Is Not A Car Or A Couch Or A Boat.