A Poem for Speculative Hipsters

By Amiri Baraka b. 1934 Amiri Baraka

He had got, finally,

to the forest

of motives. There were no

owls, or hunters. No Connie Chatterleys

resting beautifully

on their backs, having casually

brought socialism

to England.

Only ideas,

and their opposites.

Like,

he was really

nowhere.

Amiri Baraka, “A Poem for Speculative Hipsters” from Transbluesency: The Selected Poems of Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones, 1961-1995 (New York: Marsilio Publishers, 1995). Copyright © 1995 by Amiri Baraka. Reprinted with the permission of Sll/Sterling Lord Literistic, Inc.

Source: Transbluesency: The Selected Poems of Amiri Baraka/LeRoi Jones 1961-1995 (1995)

Biography

Amiri Baraka was born LeRoi Jones in 1934 in Newark, New Jersey. He attended Rutgers University and Howard University, spent three years in the U.S. Air Force, and returned to New York City to attend Columbia University and the New School for Social Research. Baraka has become most known for his strident social criticism, often writing in an incendiary style that has made it difficult for some audiences and critics to respond . . .

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