from Who look at me?

Who look at me?

Who see the children
on their street the torn down door the wall
complete an early losing
                                  games of ball
the search to find
a fatherhood a mothering of mind
a multimillion multicolored mirror
of an honest humankind?
                       *
look close
and see me black man mouth
for breathing (North and South)
A MAN
I am black alive and looking back at you.

from Who Look at Me (1969)
and from Directed by Desire. The Collected Poems of June Jordan.
Copyright 2005 by the June M. Jordan Literary Estate Trust