On A MIssion

Abiodun Oyewole
Abiodun is an original member of the legendary group, The Last Poets. He is a playright, songwriter, community activist, and poet who enjoys bringing out the poetry in all people's lives. Currently he lives in New York City, where he teaches poetry at Columbia University, conducts several creative-writing workshops, and is a consultant for the Board of Education. He has performed his poetry around the world and is considered by many to be one of the fathers of rap music.

"Above bio. compiled from promotional material obtained by Kwame Alexander"

Last Poets on a Mission: Selected Poetry & a History of the Last Poets
(Click Title to Order)
Paperback, 256pp
September 1996

Formed in 1968 at a celebration for Malcolm X, the Last Poets - three poets and a drummer-are often seen as the precursors of present-day rap music. Many performers, including Public Enemy, have acknowledged this debt. This collection gathers 30 poems-written from the Sixties through the Nineties-by two founders of the group. Each poem is prefaced by an informative and often entertaining comment by the poet, and lengthy personal statements are also given. Although the language and subject matter may be disturbing to some readers, and not all the poems hold up on the page as well as when performed, several pieces clearly display the power of these poets. These include Umar's "Bum Rush" (a plea to youths not "to die/ in the/ Streets") and Oyewole's "Pelourinho" (a tribute to the resilient spirit of black people). An excellent introduction to this pioneering group. (Foreword by Amiri Baraka not seen.) - Louis J. Parascandola, Long Island Univ., Brooklyn Campus (Library Journal)

Read the Poem "My People" form the book On A Mission"

"My People" was then, and still is, one of my favorite poems. I feel I have covered the strength, the tenderness, the glory, the truth as well as an ideology that we as a people should work toward."
- Abiodun Oyewole

MY PEOPLE

My people are Black, beige, yellow
Brown and beautiful
A garden of life
with a love as sweet as scuppernong wine
growing in muddy waters
making brown babies with
pink feet and quick minds
My people warm sometimes hot
always cool always together
My people let's be together
understand that we've lived together
understand that we've died together
understand My brother that I've
smelled your piss in my hallway
and it smell just like mine
understand that I love your woman
my sister and her rare beauty
is reason enough for a revolution
yes sister my honest sister
I have had ugly moments with you
but you are the only beauty I've ever known
Yes sister my honest sister
you are the joy in my smile
you are the reality of my dreams
you are the only sister I have
and I need you
I need you to feed the children
of our race
I need you to feed the lovers of our race
I need you to be the summer of my winters
I need you because
you are the natural life in the living
at night there is a moon
to make the Blackness be felt
I am that Blackness
filling up the world
with My soul
and the world knows me
You are that moon
my moon Goddess shining down light
on my Black face
that fills the universe
My moon I am your sun
and I shall take this peace
of light and build a world
for you my sister
Sometimes the waters are rough
and the hungry tide swallows the shore
washing away all memories
of children's footsteps
playing in the sand
where is the world I promised my son?
must he push back the tide
and build the world
that I have rapped about
Am I so godly until I forget
what a man is?
Am I so right until
there is no room for patience
My brother Oh in brother
father of a son
father of a warrior
My brother the sun
My brother the warrior
Be the beginning and the end
for my sister
Be the revolution for our world
turn yourself into yourself
and then onto this disordered world
and arrange the laughter for joy
the tears for sorrow
Turn purple pants, alligator shoes
leather jackets, brown boots
polka dot ties, silk suits,
Turn miniskirts, false eyelashes,
red wigs, afro wigs, Easter bonnets,
bellbottoms turn this confusion
into Unity Unity
so that the sun will follow
our foot steps in the day
so that the moon will glow
in our living rooms at night
so that food, clothing, and shelter
will be free
because we are born free
to have the world as our playground
My people.