Branches of the Tree of Life: The Collected Poems of Abiodun Oyewole, 1969-2013

By Abiodun Oyewole

BRANCHES OF THE TREE OF LIFE is the first comprehensive volume of poems by Last Poets’ Abiodun Oyewole, many of them never before published. Oyewole’s poems are powerful, often political, always lyrical and profoundly moving. Oyewole is one of several poets credited for liberating American poetry by creating open, vocal, spontaneous, energetic and uncensored vernacular verse that paved the way for spoken word and Hip Hop. Using the spiritual, the sacred and the mystical, Oyewole often turns to the tree as a symbol of change and growth. BRANCHES OF THE TREE OF LIFE is a living testament to a stunning career that confirms Abiodun Oyewole’s place at the forefront of poetic achievement. Edited by Gabrielle David, with an Introduction by Betty J. Dopson.

• Language: English
• Publisher: 2Leaf Press
• Release date: May 12, 2014
• ISBN: 9781940939049

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BRANCHES OF THE TREE OF LIFE

Abiodun Oyewole is one of the most important voices of his generation and my own. He opens up his heart and allows us to be one of the branches of a tremendous tree he has planted inside this revolutionary language called poetry. A mentor, a critic, and an inspirational voice of truth, he is a poet that shares his life with the world, and I am forever grateful for being one of the flowers he helped bloom.

—Jessica Care Moore award-winning poet and publisher

"In Branches From the Tree of Life, Abiodun Oyewole, best known for his lifelong membership in The Last Poets, takes a well-deserved solo turn. He informs us that he is equally the product of his mother (with her unconditional love and encouragement) and his father (with his emphasis on competence and personal responsibility). And indeed, Abiodun’s collected poems faithfully shift gears one after the other, from praise to revolutionary exhortation and back again. A gift from a venerated lion in winter, they’re meant to fortify and inspire us, to remind us to treasure our history and to do the work necessary to create the future of our fondest dreams. Like their creator, then, these poems are not unambitious, but they succeed."

—Bill Adler, co-author of Def Jam: The First 25 Years of the Last Great Record Label

When we can’t escape the echo of our own suffering, it is our storytelling that saves us, and it’s Abiodun Oyweloe’s voice in the shadow of our forgetting that beckons us out from the depths. While there are so many ways we can destroy each other, how do we lift someone up, how do we lend a hand and reach out to a spirit, an ancestor, a child in search of answers or arms or imagination? If prayer is a petition for presence, then Abiodun’s poems will always be in a heart, on a tongue, in our palms reaching to exist. These are words, placed as strategic as songs, laying for us the blueprint to being empowered and fearless.

—Aja Monet, poet and lyricist

I have been listening to Abiodun since middle school and have had the honor to grace many stages with him. He is truly a pioneer. He attacks topics with the ferocity of a lion and has the compassion of a Grandfather. So much respect for him and his body of work. He will go in the archives for centuries to come.

—Etan Thomas, poet, author and NBA champion

"Branches of The Tree of Life is a literary treasure. Abiodun Oyewole is a living legend who speaks truth to power and celebrates the life, struggles, triumphs, beauty and realities of being African in America. He carries the baton of the traditional African oral historian and is the great grandfather of what became hip hop. His works are universal in that they speak to the hearts of human beings everywhere. His works capture the heart of lovers as well as the passion of the revolutionary. For the past five decades Brother Dune has challenged all of us to be better, to treat each other better, to treat ourselves better and to live life with purpose, joy and integrity. Kudos to this magnificent collection of one of the world’s foremost poetic giants."

—Linda H Humes, storyteller and educator,

African Studies Dept. John Jay College/CUNY, Founder, Yaffa Cultural Arts Inc.

I met Abiodun as a young poet in my twenties but his voice has been a part of my life since I was a small girl. Shhh, I borrowed The Last Poets albums from my mom when I left California for college. Imagine the shock of coming to New York and finding myself seated on Abiodun’s couch getting a creative healing at his Sunday Salon. Dune is a one man poetic army, his word and that big, booming voice of his are his weapons, but that his heart and his love for poetry and people are the healing salve.

—Toni Blackman, Artist/U.S. Hip Hop Ambassador

The Collected Poems of Abiodun Oyewole 1969-2013

Introduction by Betty J. Dopson

Edited by Gabrielle David

P.O. Box 4378

Grand Central Station

New York, New York 10163-4378

[e-mail]

www.2leafpress.org

2LEAF PRESS

is an imprint of the

Intercultural Alliance of Artists &

Scholars, Inc. (IAAS),

a NY-based nonprofit 501(c)(3)

organization that promotes

multicultural literature and literacy.

www.theiaas.org

BRANCHES OF THE TREE OF LIFE, THE COLLECTED POERMS OF ABIODUN OYEWOLE, 1969-2013, Copyright © 2014 Abiodun Oyewole.(www.abiodun-oyewole.com/). All rights reserved under international and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of this author's rights is appreciated. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted or stored in or introduced in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of both the copyright owner and 2LEAF PRESS, an imprint of the Intercultural Alliance of Artists & Scholars, Inc. (IAAS), the publisher of this book, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles.

Library of Congress Control Number:  2013953940

Print Edition, ISBN-13: 978-1-940939-03-2

ePub Edition, 978-1-940939-04-9

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Published in the United States of America

First Edition | First Printing

Disclaimer:

Note to the Reader

Viewing this eBook at a higher than optimal text size will cause the reading experience to be altered considerably. Since eBooks are formatted as reflowable text and have to work on many different screens and devices, it is impossible to guarantee that the poems will display as the poet intended. As such, some of the lines will display as multiple lines of text. When this occurs, the turn of the line will be marked with a slight indent, prompting the reader that this is a continuation of a previous line. In order to read the poetry as it was written, we suggest that you read this book at the default font size on your device. Please note, that spacing of some of the poems were either truncated or eliminated to accommodate reflowable text format. Please refer to the print edition of this book for a more accurate rendering of the poetry.

Credits

Photos and cover design: Vagabond, http://nothingtobegainedhere.wordpress.com/

Book design and layout: Gabrielle David, www.gabrielle-david.com

For my mother, children, brothers, sisters and friends,

with a special dedication to Ace.

Ní inú ofíì àti òláà ọmọ páńdòrò ńgbó

Despite being blown hither and thither in the gale,

the fruits of the sausage tree survive to maturity.

—Yoruba proverb

Table of Contents

Copyright Page

Disclaimer: Note to the Reader

Credits

Dedication

INVOCATION

TRIBUTE

for Amiri Baraka

For Amiri

PREFACE

The Journey of a Last Poet

INTRODUCTION

On A Pathway To Revolution: Branches of the Tree Of Life

ROOTED IN THE SOIL

Weeping Willow Tree

Two Little Boys

I Want to Feel

What is Your Thing Brother

When The Revolution Comes

Party and Bullshit

A Picture

Role Playing

Black Rose

Our Song

Alabama

Our Time

Contrast

Another Mountain

GashMan

Sometimes

Black Rage

For The Millions

Run Nigger

Winter of 1982

Time Out

Brothers Working

Harlem Lives!

Tomorrow

Changes

THE SEEDS OF CHANGE

The Cycle

To Struggle

My People

The Thanks Taking Day

Harriet's Train

Cottonfields

Emancipation Proclamation

Marcus Garvey

Malcolm

Crime

How Many Bullets

Reparations

The Bonfim

Return To Greatness

Affirmation

Fight The Power

Full Moon Over Harlem

Pelourinho

Soul Reflection

Harlem

A Man

Voodoo

The Children

A Woman

New York New York The Big Apple

If We Only Knew

Stop the Violence

The End of the Beginning

BRANCHING OUT

The Wind Speaks

Black Is So Beautiful

Our Legacy, The Language of Sound

Dance With Oya

Chamique

Brown Sugar

Blessed Moments

Skyview

Sunpeople

Cloudy Illusions

My Life

Culture

Dread Brother

Festival

Grenoble

Paris Moon

African Ball

Come With Me

Son's Rising

The Pledge

THE HEALING SHADOW OF THE TREE

Ode To A Dead Tree

You Are The Light

Goree

The Delta

Jesus

Pharoah

Aunt Baby

A Tribute To Joe

Malcolm Shabazz

The Basu Farm

Hey, LiL Brotha

New York New York The Big Apple (part II)

Blink

Obama

Occupy

Brother Gil Noble

Who Are You

Louis Reyes Rivera

Sonia

Understand Black

Jayne Cortez

Oba and Rae

The Road

My Four Suns

For Aina

JITU

All Hail Hal Jackson

The Walk

They Killed Troy

Sylvia

A New Dawn For Trayvon

The Return To Goree

Mumia

Happy Birthday Mom

Grandmothers

Something Beautiful

A Revolution

RETURNING TO THE ROOTS

A New Day

Us Before B.C.

Technology

Me On TV

Awakening

The Library

Miss Moon

Been Done Before

What I Want To See

Saturday Night In Paris

Come With Me

Body And Soul

You Don't Know What Love Is (For The Players)

How I Got Wings

The Older I Grow

Caribbean Sunset

Rain of Terror

The Poem

LAST RITES

AFTERWORD

The Poetic Truths and Humility of Abiodun Oyewole

ABOUT THE POET

ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

OTHER BOOKS BY 2LEAF PRESS

That each day I may walk unceasingly on the banks of my water, that my soul may repose on the branches of the trees which I planted, that I may refresh myself under the shadow of my sycomore.

— Egyptian tomb inscription, circa 1400 BCE

And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, find tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones, and good everything.

— William Shakespeare

Trees are poems that earth writes upon the sky,

We fell them down and turn them into paper,

That we may record our emptiness.

— Kahil Gibran

INVOCATION

And a South African poet named Kgositsile said:

This wind you hear is the birth of memory

When the moment hatches in time’s womb

There will be no art talk

The only poem you will hear

Will be the spear point pivoted

In the punctured marrow of the villain

The timeless native son dancing like crazy

To the retrieved rhythms

Of desire fading into memory

Therefore, we are The Last Poets of the world

Said David Nelson, Gylan Kain,

Felipe Luciano, Umar Bin Hassan, Jalal Nuriddin,

Suliaman El Hadi, Abiodun Oyewole, and

The heartbeat Nilija (Obabi)

The Last Poets were born on May 19, 1968

In Mount Morris Park in Harlem, New York

It was a birthday celebration in memory and honor of Malcolm X

The Last Poets were on a mission

We became the voices of the East Wind

Blowing away the West with our sound

The Last Poets, men who knew

In their youth the truth must be told

The lies must be revealed

And we got to be sassy and funky and sincere

About it

The Last Poets are individuals

Who don’t flock together well

Who don’t follow orders too much

And when we do there’s a reason

When we infiltrate the madness

It’s not for love;

Our lives are mirrors of the world

Our people have lived and died in

For four hundred years

We, The Last Poets, are the seeds

For the rap artists to grow a garden

And yet we are only a branch

From the tree called Griot

Crossings is the road we’ve traveled

To come to this point

The Last Poets have become a fraternity

Of those who know

The mystery of a moon glow

And the wrath of each flame of the sun

The Last Poets are back

And that’s a fact

No more time for bullshit raps

Let’s get back on track

TRIBUTE

for Amiri Baraka

WHEN IT CAME TIME TO DECIDE who was going to write the introduction to my first book of collected poems, Branches of the Tree of Life, Amiri Baraka was the only person I had in mind. Why? Amiri Baraka was my mentor. I learned a great deal from him. He was the