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    PipeSmokingGalMax Read
    1/09/14 3:43pm

    James Avery, Juanita Moore and now Amiri Baraka. 2014 is starting off kinda sad.

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      sizor_sisterPipeSmokingGal
      1/09/14 3:52pm

      I missed the news about Juanita Moore! Sad indeed.

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      Michael BallabanPipeSmokingGal
      1/09/14 3:55pm

      Wait wait wait. You're putting James Avery and Amiri Baraka in the same boat?

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    Freddie DeBoerMax Read
    1/09/14 3:40pm

    Here's a poem of his, written when he was still going by the name Leroi Jones, that I consider one of those perfect artistic expressions of New York City.

    Epistrophe (for Yodo)
    It's such a static reference; looking

    out the window all the time! the eyes' limits . . .
    On good days, the sun.

    & what you see. (here in New York)

    Walls and buildings; or in the hidden gardens
    of opulent Queens; profusion, endless stretches of leisure.

    It's like being chained to some dead actress;

    and she keeps trying to tell you something horribly maudlin.

    e. g. ("the leaves are flat and motionless.")

    What I know of the mind
    seems to end here;

    Just outside my face.

    I wish some weird looking animal

    would come along.

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      mayrayFreddie DeBoer
      1/09/14 3:43pm

      **approving beatnik finger snaps**

      RIP Amiri Baraka.

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      Political InActivistFreddie DeBoer
      1/09/14 4:50pm

      Baraka's poem "When We'll Worship Jesus" helped me give up Christianity. It was the single most powerful (and irreverent) thing I had ever read...I had to physically put it down more than once. Such an unexpected experience. Rest in peace, Brother Amiri!!

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    sizor_sisterMax Read
    1/09/14 3:37pm

    Usually "famous" people's deaths don't elicit much emotion from me, but this one sure does.

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      Grinding My Geertzsizor_sister
      1/09/14 3:51pm

      Yeah, this made me sad very quickly.

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    It takes a nation of millions to elect the corruptMax Read
    1/09/14 3:53pm

    If you have not read Blues People then you don't know what you are missing. It is by fair the greatest book on the history of blues and jazz. And unlike Ken Burn's documentary/book it won't make you desire the end of the human species. In case it was not clear yet, it is a wonderful book.

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      18thCFoxMax Read
      1/09/14 4:39pm

      Team Hettie.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hettie_Jo…

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        milopizMax Read
        1/09/14 4:54pm

        Can't believe he is getting a pass on all the fucked up homophobia and mysoginy...Oh wait, there is a sentence saying he repudiated it. PHEW! Continue keeping'em honest Mr. Read

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          Ocean_EternalMax Read
          1/09/14 8:39pm

          I'll never get over the beauty of this poem:

          Preface to a Twenty Volume Suicide Note

          Lately, I've become accustomed to the way
          The ground opens up and envelops me
          Each time I go out to walk the dog.
          Or the broad-edged silly music the wind
          Makes when I run for the bus...

          Things have come to that.

          And now, each night I count the stars,
          And each night I get the same number.
          And when they will not come to be counted,
          I count the holes they leave.

          Nobody sings anymore.

          And then last night, I tiptoed up
          To my daughter's room and heard her
          Talking to someone, and when I opened
          The door, there was no one there...
          Only she on her knees, peeking into

          Her own clasped hands.

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            twizzlerOcean_Eternal
            1/15/14 7:44am

            That was amazing. You know I've never read his poetry.

            I have a famous relative who was Baraka's nemesis. And since it all happened before I was born I never investigated who the poet was, only my relative. I treated him as part of a news story element. I now realize how f'd up that was. Going to the library. Thanks.

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            Ocean_Eternaltwizzler
            1/15/14 8:27pm

            He's an interesting guy. Fortunately for me, I was exposed to his poetry long before I learned about his politics.

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          Left HandshakeMax Read
          1/09/14 3:44pm

          What an inspired and talented fellow with some occasionally hideous things to say.

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            Seneca the Younger(er)Left Handshake
            1/09/14 7:43pm

            I came here to call attention to the hideous things he wrote and said, but I'll take a heaping portion of your words instead. There's no point in speaking ill of the dead, and the first part of your comment is equally true and more relevant at the moment.

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          MarcabExpatMax Read
          1/09/14 5:13pm

          Man, I really hope Fox News just leaves this alone. Rest in peace.

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            seyswhoMarcabExpat
            1/09/14 10:48pm

            They probably just heard "Baraka died" and are currently celebrating with beer bongs and reporting on Biden being sworn in.

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          Grinding My GeertzMax Read
          1/09/14 3:41pm

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