The Power of the Angola 3"If a cause is noble enough you can carry the weight of the world on your shoulders"
--Albert Woodfox
Forty years
Three life times bricked in, stunted-
cemented into Angola prison lies
boxed and hidden from light
denied all dignity
except that which they crafted
on their own, mostly alone
It is more than most of us can imagine,
infinitely more than most of us could endure.
Full of fire we chant of ongoing struggle
learn multiple ways to understand
and reveal true revolution
stand up for the oppressed
and stand up against oppressors
openly walk our streets
and work through our days
And at night as we crawl into our beds
perhaps the scent of fresh sheets fills our noses
perhaps a loved one's arms
wrap around us and pull us close
perhaps we dream of flying
Inside those forty years I have birthed children
Seen grandchildren emerge into this world
bright and wailing from my daughter's womb
watched my hair become sprinkled with gray
amassed a wealth of laughter
and experience amidst my tears
Forty years
How many times has the world turned
while those three cleared shadows from their hearts
and pushed terror from their brains
Twenty-three hours each day housed in a box
one hour, three times a week a walk around
an outdoor cage to see a patch of sky-
Three hundred and six four days every year
to sharpen and redefine their cause, our cause
the cause
Revolution as more than slogan
freedom as more than catchphrase
justice as more than theory
Imagine pacing the measured space
they live in day after day, decade thru decade
I step and count each foot, six by eight
the size of a small bathroom
Legs fully stretched
I cannot walk four long full strides
that alone tortures, crazes
Cut that space with cot, metal bench
And commode without cover or seat
Add to that unsmiling, cold sentries
standing watch each hour, all days
Clenched icy steel
Sometimes a radio rasp, television spit
But hours of silence amidst the
never ending cacophony of cells and locks
prisoners and shackles
How can spirit glide inside this confinement?
For forty years these three men
have taught us-
the truth of revolution
the heart of struggle
the essence of strength
the depth of resilience
the weight of torture endured
for true ideals, for a just cause
for us and for all of our children
By Devorah Major
4/12
--Born and raised in California but traveling throughout the
United States and Europe, Asia and parts of the Caribbean,
Devorah Major served as San Francisco Poet Laureate 2002
through 2006. In addition to being a poet she is a performer,
lecturer, fiction and creative non-fiction writer, and editor. A
trained actress and former dancer, she approaches poetry as
both a written and performing art.
In 2009 she completed a historical novella and accompanying non-fiction essay Freedom's Harvest: The Peter Smith Story, that is now traveling the nation looking for a publisher. 2009 also saw the release of two new chapbooks, Black Bleeds into Green and Amour Verdinia/ Verdinia Amour, a two-poet flip book with Opal Palmer Adisa. That was also the year that she completed and gave her first performance of Black Classic: African American Voices from 19th Century San Francisco. In 2005 Trade Routes, a symphony commissioned by the Oakland East Bay Symphony composed by Guillermo Galindo, with spoken word and chorus by Devorah Major was premiered at Oakland's Paramount theater.
Devorah Major has performed solo, with jazz musicians, and as a part of Daughters Yam with Opal Palmer Adisa. In 2006 Ms. Major participated in an International Poetry Festival and
Conference in Sarajevo, Bosnia. In 2007 she made a fourth trip to Italy to be a part of an international poetry festival presented by Casa della Poesia.
Recent Documentary Films About the Angola 3
The state of Louisiana is the world's prison capital
New Documentary Film About Solitary Confinement
New Campaign & Website: Birthing Behind Bars
New Poem by Devorah Major:
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