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POETRY                                   WALKER

But lately you have begun to help them
bury us. You who said : King was just a womanizer. Malcolm just a thug. Sojourner "folksy." Hansberry 
a traitor (or whore, depending). Fannie Lou Hamer merely "spunky." Zora Hurtson, Nella Larsen, Toomer: Reactionary, brainwashed, spoiled by whitefolks, "minor." Agnes Smedley, a spy.

I look into your eyes
you are throwing in the dirt.
You, standing in the grave
with me. Stop it!

Each one must pull one.

Look, I, temporarily on the rim
of the grave,
have grasped my mother's hand
my father's leg
There is the hand of Robeson
Langston's thigh
Zora's arm and hair
your grandfather's lifted chin
the lynched woman's elbow
what you've tried to forget
of your grandmother's frown

Each one, pull one back into the sun

We who have stood over
so many graves
know that no matter what they do
all of us must live
or none.

89

Transcription Notes:
---------- Reopened for Editing 2024-02-26 13:30:22