Poetry Solace: i substitute for the dead lecturer

Here's another poem by Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka). I don't like all his poems, just a couple, and this is one of the few that I like. Enjoy!

I Substitute for the Dead Lecturer

What is most precious, because

it is lost. What is lost,

because it is most precious.

They have turned, and say that I am dying. That
I have thrown
my life
away. They
have left me alone, where
there is no one, nothing
save who I am. Not a note
nor a word.

          Cold air batters
the poor (and their minds
turn open
like sores). What kindness
What wealth
can I offer? Except
what is, for me,
ugliest. What is
for me, shadows, shrieking
phantoms. Except
they have need
of life. Flesh
at least,
     should be theirs.

The Lord has saved me
to do this. Te Lord
has made me strong. I
am as I must have
myself. Against all
thought, all music, all
my soft loves.

          For all these wan roads
I am pushed to follow, are
my own conceit. A simple muttering
elegance, slipped in my head
pressed on my soul, is my heart's
worth. And I am frightened
that the flame of my sickness
will burn off my face. And leave
the bones, my stewed black skull,
an empty cage of failure.




Have a great weekend. Be safe!