The Black poet.
He mounts the stand and people turn colors.
Where on Earth could he be coming from?
What new can he tell us about the racial situation?
Why are there oceans in his poem?
Sunshine, glacial journeys toward reunion.
What's the matter with his diction, man?
He sure don't sound all that black.
Now, if he was Kenyan or better yet, from Mozambique or even
from St Martin's, it would be easier
to relate all them drumbeats and bananas in his blood
with the sun pounding down and around that afrique look.
It all has to do with sound.
Anyway, if he was for real, he'd be
off chasing fields or chasing flies--
[LAUGHTER]
--or punching somebody out.
Anyway, he's a danger to the community, you've got to admit.
[APPLAUSE]
I have two versions of that poem and I
haven't decided which one I'm going to stay with.