Thanks to the efforts of Howard Ramsby, we are able to share this recording of Amiri Baraka reading "Funk Lore," the title poem of his 1996 Littoral Books collection, Funk Lore: New Poems (1984–1994). This three-minute track comes from a visit to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on October 24, 2005.
"We are the blues / ourselves," the poem begins, "our favorite / color / Where we been, half here
/ half gone" revisiting themes found at the heart of Baraka's poetry since his earliest output. By the middle of the poem, a transubstantiation has taken place: "We are the blues / the past the gone / the energy the / cold the saw teeth / hotness / the smell above / draining the wind / through trees / the / blue / leaves us / black," though he quickly comes full-circle — "& now black again we are the / whole of night / with sparkling eyes staring / down / like jets” — ending with a reassertion of identity: "“that’s why our spirit / make us // the blues // we is ourselves // the blues."
You can listen to the complete poem here on our Amiri Baraka author page, along with a treasure trove of recordings going as far back as 1964.
