[^^mac]  [The POETRY page]
Ntozake Shange



                    WHAT DO YOU BELIEVE
                    A POEM SHD DO?

                      quiet simply a
                      poem shd fill you 
                      up with something/
                      cd make you swoon,
                      stop in yr tracks,
                      change yr mind,
                      or make it up.
                      a poem shd happen
                      to you like cold
                      water or a kiss.

Please note:  The editor appologises that the font for
              the titles of Ntosake's poems can "only"
              approximate the bold, yet simple elegance
              used in her book.  Alzso note:  The text
    used in her book is not strictly kerned (as is the text upon this page)...... To make up for this,
              I offer this footnote:

              "Nappy Edges -- the roots of your hair/ what
               turns back when we seeat, run, 
               make love, dance, get afraid, get
               happy: the tel-tale sign of living/"



my father is a retired magician

                                (for ifa, p.t., & bisa)

my father is a retired magician
which accounts for my irregular behaviour
everythin comes outa comes outta magic hats
or bottles wit no bottoms & parakeets
are as easy to get as a couple a rabbits
or 3 fifty cent pieces/ 1958

my daddy retired from magic & took
up another trade cuz this friend of mine
from the 3rd grade asked to be made white
on the spot

what cd any self-respectin colored american magician
do wit such a outlandish request/ cept
put all them razzmatazz hocus pocus zippity-do-dah
thingamajigs away           cuz
colored children believin in magic
waz becomin politcally dangerous for the race
& waznt nobody gonna be made white
on the spot       just
from a clap of my daddy's hands

& the reason i'm so peculiar's
cuz i been studyin up on my daddy's technique
& everythin i do is magic these days
& it's very colored
very now you see it/ now you
dont mess with me
                I come from a family of retired
sorcerers/ active houngans & pennyante fortune tellers
wit 41 million spirts critturs & celestial bodies
on our side

i'll listen to yr problems
help wit yr career  yr lover   yr wandering spouse
make yr grandma's stay in heaven more
  gratifyin
ease yr mother thru menopause & show yr son 
how to clean his room

YES YES YES            3 wishes is all you get
      scarlet ribbons for yr hair
         benwa balls via hong kong
             a miniature of machu picchu

all things are possible 
but aint no colored magician in her right mind
gonna make you    white
   i mean 
         this is blk magic
you lookin at
              & i'm fixin you up good/ fixin you up
                  good n colored
& you gonna be colored all yr life
& you conna love it/ bein colored/ all yr life/ colored
   & love it
love it/ bein colored/

SPELL #7 FROM UPNORTH-OUTWEST GEECHEE JIBARA
QUIK MAGIC TRANCE MANUAL FOR TECNHOLOGICALLY
STRESSED THIRD WORLD PEOPLE



with no immediate cause
  
every 3 minutes a woman is beaten
every five minutes a 
woman is raped/ every ten minutes
a lil girl is molested
yet i rode the subway today
i sat next to an old man who
may have beaten his old wife
3 minutes ago or 3 days/ 30 years ago
he might have sodomized his 
dauger but i sat there
cuz the young men on the train
might beat some young women
later in the day or tomorrow
i might not shut my door fast
enuf/ push hard enuf
every 3 minutes it happens
some womaan's innocence 
rushes to her cheeks/ purse from her mouth
like the betsy wetsy dolls have been torn
apart/ their mouths
mensis red & split/ every
three minutes a shoulder
is jammed through plaster & the oven door/
chairs push thru the rib cage/ hot water or
boiling sperm decorate her body
i rode the subway today
& bouths a paper from a
man who might
have held his old lady onto
a hot pressing iron/ i dont know
maybe he catches lil girls in 
the park & rips open their behinds
with steel rods/ i cdnt decide
what he might have doen i only 
know every 3 minutes
every 5 minutes every 10 minutes/ so
i bought the paper
looking for the announcement
there has to be an announcement
of the women's bodies found
yesterday/ the missing little girl
i sat in a restaurant with my
paper looking for the announcement
a yng man served me coffee
i wondered did he pour the boiling
coffee/ on the woman cuz she waz stupid/
did he put the infant girl/ in
the coffee pot/ with the boiling coffee/ cuz she cried
  too much
what exactly did he do with the hot coffee
i looked for the announcement
the discovery/ of the dismembered 
woman's body/ the
victims have not all been
identified/ today they are
naked & dead/ refuse to 
testify/ one girl out of 10's not
coherent/ i took the coffee
& spit it up/ i found an
announcement/ not the woman's
bloated body in the river/ floating
not the child bleeding in the
59th street corridor/ not the baby 
broken on the floor/
     "there is some concern 
      that alleged battered women
      might start to murder their
      husbands & lovers with no
      immediate cause"
i spit up    i vomit    i am screaming
we all have imediate cuase
every 3 minutes
every 5 minutes
every 10 minutes
every day
women's bodies are found 
in alleys & bedrooms/ at the top of the stairs
before i ride the subway/ buy a paper/ drink
coffee/ i must know/
have you hurt a woman today
did you beat a woman today
throw a child cross a room
    are the lil girl's panties
did you hurt a woman today

i have to ask these obscene questions
the authorities require me to
establish
immediate cuase

every three minutes
every five minutes
every ten minutes
every day


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