"I'm a Hater," "Nigger Lawyers," and "A Love Supreme"

I’m A Hater
(to all the haters in the house)

Yeah…
I’m a hater
I hate when people use the word “hater”
I hate havin’ to get up early to go to work
I hate runnin’ outa beer
I hate Sunday “blue laws”
I hate $20 lap dances
I hate prophylactics that break
I hate people who call rubbers “prophylactics”
I hate designer clothes (I ain’t no walkin’ billboard)
I hate people who cherrypick their sins
I hate cafeteria Christians who choose their transgressions from immoral menus
I hate havin’ herb (and no rollin’ papers)
I hate havin’ rollin’ papers (and no herb)
I hate not havin’ no lighter when I got the papers and the herb
     (and I really hate not havin’ ‘nair one)
I hate poems that’s too short (if there is such a thing)
I hate poems that’s too long (if there is such a thing)
I hate wimmins that’s too pretty (if there is such a thing)
I hate wimmins that’s too fine (if there is such a thing)
I hate pussy that’s too good (if there is such a thing)
I hate titties that’s too titillating (if there is such a thing)
I hate havin’ too much money and too much honey (if there is such a thing)
I hate people who don’t like the Three Stooges and cowboy movies
I hate people who talk about their “ancestors” when they don’t even know they paw
I hate people who ask poets to do free gigs when they have budgets (we gotta eat too)
I hate so-called poets who think Amiri Baraka is a character in Mortal Kombat
I hate when poets use clichés like “my Nubian Ki-i-iing…my Nubian Quee-ee-een”
I hate sour cream on tacos (I don’t eat nuthin’ sour -- I just eat sweet thangs)
I hate people who spend $100 on a concert ticket, but cain’t pay $5
     for the Spoken Word set
I’m a hater…
I hate people who call you a hater
I hate people who say “playa hater”
I hate people who say “indices” insteada “indexes”
I hate people who use the phrase “but I digress”
I hate people who use the cinematically-generated phrase “keepin’ it real”
I hate people who use the corporately-generated slogan “real talk”
I hate radio stations that claim to be ‘bout community but have playlists using the very  
     gobbidge and filth doing so much damage to the consciousness of the people
I hate characters in movies where they see someone flying through the air after an
     explosion and they yell “No-O-O-O-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o...”
I hate lil’ white lies (and BIG BLACK LIES)
I hate CD packaging that scratches the disc when you open it (keep it simple, stupid)
I hate people who have tag sales -- with department store prices
I hate people in public places who share their conversation (with the who-o-o-ole world)
I hate people who use the word “hater” (cuz I’m a hater)
I hate people who wait ‘til they get on the bus -- then begin gittin’ their fare together
I hate seein’ Christmas trees in the gobbidge
I hate people who call every person of Latino descent a “Mexican”
I hate New Orleans restaurants that ain’t in New Orleans
I hate people who move to the French Quarter – and wanna ban live music
I hate people who call tourists “visitors”
I hate people who call chitlins “chitterlings”
I hate people who call milleton “merliton” (when they been callin’ it “milleton” all along)
I hate people who drop by the crib and assume they can recharge their phones without  
     asking
I hate people who borrow your food containers and (ahem) forget to return them
I hate people who are so cheap that they complain about people not returning their food   
     containers
I hate people who claim to be so-o-o-o-o patriotic, but worship the rebel flag
I hate people who talk about “the good-old days” (but ignore segregation)
I hate people who never had to buy their drinks “out the wall”
                      never used a separate water fountain
                      never sat behind the sign in the backa the bus
                      never attended segregated schools
                      -and think they have a clearer perspective than me on race relations
                      (they ain’t thinkin’)
I hate people who have their own opinions and make them their own facts
     (they ain’t thinkin’)
I hate people who think there’s such a thing as a “post-racial society”
     (they ain’t thinkin’)
I hate people who think whoever’s in the White House gon’ really make a difference
     (they ain’t thinkin’)
I hate people who just ain’t thinkin’ (they ain’t thinkin’)
I hate politicians -- all politicians and their lies-lies-lies
I hate politicians who say they want less government but crave more privatization
I hate government institutions that promise Paradise and deliver Hell
I hate people who don’t vote (then complain)
I hate people who hate you if you didn’t vote for a Democrat
I hate people who hate you if you didn’t vote for a Republican
I hate people who hate you if you didn’t vote
I hate people who hate you if you did
I hate people who call themselves “kings and queens”
     cuz Nixon, Reagan, the Bushes, and Jimmy Carter were kings (and queens)
I hate educational institutions with diverse student bodies and faculties that look like the   
     Daughters of the Confederacy
I hate people who teach Creative Writing and don’t publish anything (Teach by doing)
I hate literary anthologies that exclude people of color
     (the invisible mens…and wimmins)
I hate white women (that benefited the most from Affirmative Action policies)
     who claim they’re so “underrepresented in the workforce”
I hate colleges that boast of student body diversity but ignore faculty diversity
I hate institutions of higher education that boast of their diverse student populations but   
     have only 2 out of 102 fulltime African American professors (like Norwalk   
     Community College)
I hate automated answering systems
I hate businesses that open late and wanta rush you out the door on time
I hate gittin’ ripped off
I hate high cable prices
I hate hidden fees
I hate companies that charge fees to send you a bill
I hate bank fees levied for cashing checks (written on they own bank)
I hate insurance companies that annually raise their premium “just because”
I hate electronic products that happen to come out just before Christmas
I hate hundred dollar tickets to see two-dollar talent
I hate entertainers who stage “wardrobe malfunctions”
I hate people who go to every Second Line in history
     but don’t make it to one parent-teacher meeting
     (and wonder why they chirrens is treated so bad)
I hate gobbidge that passes for music
I hate cooning and buffooning by multi-millionaire artists
     (who don’t have to be coons and buffoons)
I hate people who look at dead, bullet-riddled gangsta rappers as heroes rather than   
     ministers of modern minstrelry
I hate people who say something (then repeat it)
I hate people who say something (then repeat it)
I hate people who say something (then repeat it)
I hate bands that play too loud over the poetry
I HATE POETS THAT READ TOO LOUD
I HATE POETS THAT READ TOO LOUD
I HATE POETS THAT READ TOO LOUD
I hate wimmins who want me to read to them on the phone all night
     -and don’t buy ‘nair book (talkin’ ‘bout “I like yo’ voice”)
I hate people who wanta treat what they do for you like business
     (but what you do for them like friendship)
I hate people who owe me and don’t clear their phone’s mailbox
I hate people you go find and pay back on time
     (but you gotta look for them when they owe you)
I hate photographers at poetry readings who take pitchas of me –
     and don’t send me a copy (present company excepted)
I hate people who collect all kinda money at the door for poetry readings
     but don’t give anything to the poets who’re reading
     (present company excepted)
I hate people who start the gig late (when the performer arrives on time)
     (present company excepted)
I hate people who write a half-dozen poems
     (that their friends or significant others give the claps for at the readings)
        and they think they’re the second coming of Nikki Giovanni…
I hate seeing plants, paintings and books in the trash
I hate poverty, war and want
I hate people who think that history started with their date of birth (“Dat was befo’ my
     time…”)
I hate people who started out in life on third base (and think they hit a home run)
I hate people with exotic-sounding African names (who still act like negroes)
I hate people who believe everything they’re taught
I hate people who play it like they so-o-o-o intellectual (and they be just as ign’ant as me)
I hate people who refer to Malcolm as a “civil rights leader”
I hate people who confuse the Black Liberation Movement with the Civil Rights
     Movement
I hate people who fart on crowded elevators (and act like they didn’t do it)
I hate people who think they a expert on everything imaginable cuz they got a
     FaceBook page
I hate people who post duck-lipped pitchas on FaceBook
I hate people on FaceBook who present an illogical argument and you address it and they  
     write, “That’s not the point nor the topic of this thread.”
I hate people who wax poetic about the most challenging issues of our (or any other) time   
     –and cain’t spell
I hate people who write “Have a bless day” (and leave off the ‘ed’)
I hate old people who think all young people are dumb
I hate young people who think all old people are dumb
I hate young people who think they hip (just cuz they young)
I hate old people who think they wise (just cuz they old)
I hate people who don’t pronounce their t’s – ‘Manha-in’…’Mar-in’…Hillary ‘Clin-in’...
     ‘Hay-in’ (No he di-in’)
I hate women who wanta be a man one minute then fall back into that “tortured female”  
     role the next (“I’ma call the police…”)
I hate women who claim they’re so independent and liberated
     (but still expect the man to pay)
I hate walkin’ through MACY’s cosmetics department and being greeted by phony     
     saleslady smiles (I don’t need nuthin’ here)
I hate dumb wimmins (and cain’t stand they girlfriends)
I hate people who ask for J-PEGS (insteada just sayin’ “pitchas”)
I hate people who use abbreviations and acronyms
     (when merely typing or saying the entire word or phrase would suffice)
I hate when companies send me an envelope in the mail designed to make it look like a
     check is inside
I hate paintings with Malcolm, Martin and Obama (as though he belong in that company)
I hate people who hate “ObamaCare” but support the Affordable Care Act (duh-uh-uh…)
I hate people who leave the lint in the filter after dryin’ they clothes
I hate people who got jobs as bank tellers
     (and front like they runnin’ the Federal Reserve)
I hate doo-doo, bugars and snot
I hate people who measure their worth by what possessions they got
I hate people who measure their worth by how many FaceBook pages they got
I hate people who see history only through their particular group’s perspective
I hate people who condemn police violence and ignore thug violence
I hate people who condemn thug violence and ignore police violence
I hate people who think that no young, black males should be in the jails
     What about the grandma killers and the baby rapers?
     or the grandma rapers and the baby killers? (Everybody ain’t Trayvon)
I hate wigs and weaves and people’s pet peeves
I hate Watergate and people who constantly show up late
     (or never wanta go “Dutch” on a date)
I hate the word “hate”
and I especially, ‘specially, ‘specially
hate people
who write long poems
about “haters”…

Nigger Lawyers

Don’t git no nigger lawyer
when legal aid you seek
Don’t git no nigger lawyer
‘cause he’ll have you up a creek

Don’t git no nigger lawyer
from Harvard, Yale or Morehouse
Don’t git no nigger lawyer
‘cause he’ll have you in the poorhouse

Don’t git no nigger lawyer
to go and make your bail
Don’t git no nigger lawyer
‘cause you’ll be locked up in the jail

Don’t git no nigger lawyer
‘cause they’ll be runnin for the hills
robbin’ Paul and Peter
and lyin’ ‘bout they skills

Don’t front a nigger lawyer no money
‘cause before he’s even thunk
he’ll be down there in the barroom
--out there gittin’ drunk…

They take old people’s money
and even steal they house
but when it comes to white folks—
they quiet as a mouse

I know that I’m a black man
(all filled with racial pride)
but beware them nigger lawyers
‘cause they’ll take you for a ride

So don’t git no nigger lawyer
to go and take your case
Don’t git no nigger lawyer
‘cause it’ll blow up in your face…

My friend had a nigger lawyer
(back in ’69)
That’s why he’s in Angola
doin’ a hundred ninety-nine

Now that he’s in jail
he jess sits there  and pouts:
“A white man put me here
--and a white man’ll git me out”

Now, I had a nigger lawyer
to help divorce me from my wife
Said I had a nigger lawyer
to help divorce me from my wife
That’s why I’m in Angola
--doin’ 25 to life

Don’t git no nigger lawyer...

A LOVE SUPREME (SUITE)
to St. John William Coltrane

             I
Acknowledgment

My heart is not still troubled
     for I rejoice in the knowledge of You…
Your perfection and power inhabit all creation
You are infinite beginnings and worlds without end
You are reawakening and resurgence
Blessed are those who hear Your voice
Blessed are those who truly walk in the Spirit
Blessed are those who are cast from the template of Your care
Blessed are those who stumble and stagger without knowledge of You
     for their doom and destruction are ever imminent…
Your children are treated as chattel
The deep roots of their sins infect their descendants
Their curses and cries are everywhere about me
Their transgressions abide in the spawning of generations
They hear not Your voice, nor heed Your word 
They feel not Your goodness and nourishment encircling their pitiful flesh  
Their environs are the dwelling of folly and asses
I have pursued the advice of fools
I have sought the perfumed pleasures of harlots
I have seen their abominations and scandalous lives
You summoned my endowments, but I heeded You not
I write these words so that the unborn can take heed from my recklessness
     for the things of the world are impermanent and wretched
The knowledge of Your compassion is aflame in the marrow of my mind
      for all things are in Your plan
            all power is in Your hand
All ascendancy is in Your glory
All truth is in Your story…

Amen…

       II
Resolution

Father,
Today, in this first day of the earthlings’ new year
I resolve to bathe forever in Your rivers of living water
where I will believe in You and never thirst
for You are the bread of life in spirit and truth…
I have been in this world for a while
(and You know where I have been)
I have dwelt among the sinners and saints
drunk wine with the wicked and supped with the corrupt
I implore Your forgiveness and seek Your blessings
for I am but flesh and bone…
If not for the Comforter
If not for Your Spirit
my corporeal demise might have long been assured…
I worship in faith’s garden
and feel these words reaching heavenward…
I am Your unswerving servant for time without end
I am the voice that You inspire inside this insubstantial embodiment
I am Your creation, however imperfect
for You are the impassioned voice that inspires and inflames…
You are a love poem to the loveless
You are safe harbor to the spurned
You are all conception and creation
You are endless thought and virtuosity
for it is Your radiance that shimmers in the seams of my soul …
The skies and the seas are Yours
The mountains and the pebbles are Yours
All encompassment and creation are Yours
All reverence and veneration are Yours
I will sing Your glory beyond the day of days
and dance through the dawning of the fineness of our futures
until we reside in the transcendence of Your house forever

Amen…

     III
Pursuance

Father,

Anoint these words with Your spirit
so that my heart can express Your truth…
Blessed be all creation for Her power of birth
Blessed be Your salvation to believers in You
-the all-Powerful Musician of Life
-Holy of all Holies
-mercy to the merciless
-the greatest glory conceivable…
You brought the mother of all winds to cleanse my heart and clear my path
(Who but the sinner can speak of sin with authority?)
I called out in the night and You answered
You took my hand and guided me from the storm
-grasped me firmly amidst the shadows and pulled me to enlightenment
-saved me from the embittered of the earth…
Their perception is limited
The pungent fruits of their pitiable harvest are but an impermanent passing
Did they not know the consequences of their folly?
Could not Your power pierce their secret selves?
I strayed from Your words and Your path of light
I supped with sinners and feasted with transgressors
I drank with devourers and frequented ungodly seducers
My head strained heavenward, but my heart still dwelled on the earth
You bore witness to my depravity and guided me to love again
I exalt and praise Your name
I give thanks for Your wonders
(for Your miracle of life still courses through this embodiment)
I have no fear, want, or trembling
     for Your goodness envelops and encompasses me
No longer will I stray from Your fount of inspiration
     and I will forever worship and praise You more abundantly…

Amen…

     IV
Psalm

I come to You in Your name and plead for Your mercy
I sing to Your glory and the strength of the truthful tongue
I celebrate Your majesty and proclaim Your largess
I offer oblation to heaven’s perpetual light…
You know my heart and the inner man
Your loving kindness guides my every breath
You protect me and keep me from all harm
I dwell safely in Your reassurance
All nature is testament to Your mastery
You shepherd me from the ungodly
    and I am shielded from the world’s wicked spirits…
The power of Your spoken word expresses Your eternal eminence
I sing a song of Your salvation and the bright light You bring
The days of this life are near-at-end
Destruction and desolation are imminent
I walk in Your name and judiciousness
You know my yesterday thoughts and tomorrow dreams
You are the Revealer of all truth
-the Healer of all afflictions
-all imagination and thought
I delight in Your knowledge and welcome Your protection
Your life force overflows with strength and certainty
May Your song be forever sung
    throughout the world You brought into being…