Beautiful Poem By A Beautiful Soul

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I understand that i am
slightly out of fashion.
The in-crowd wants no part of me.

Someone said that i am too sixties
Black.
Someone else told me i had failed to mellow.

It is true i have not
straightened back my hair
Nor discovered maybelline.
And it is also true
that i still like African things,
like statues and dresses
and PEOPLE.

And it is also true
that struggle is foremost in my mind.
And i still rap about discipline-
my anger has not run away.

And i still can't stand ole
el dorado.
And i still can't dig no
one and one.
And i still don't dig no
roka fellas.
And i call a pig a pig.
And a party to my thinking,
happens only once in a while.

Anyway, i'm really kind of happy
being slightly out of style.

By Assata Shakur (From Assata: An Autobiography, p. 240)