WHO TO LOVE


MY BROTHERS

my brothers i will not tell you
who to love or not love
i will only say to you
that
Black women have not been
loved enough.

i will say to you
that
we are at war & that
Black men in america are
being removed from the
earth
like loose sand in a wind storm
and that the women Black are
three to each of us.

no
my brothers i will not tell you
who to love or not love
but
i will make you aware of our
self hating and hurting ways.
make you aware of whose bellies
you dropped from.
i will glue your ears to those images
you reflect which are not being
loved.

Copyright, 1983 Haki R. Madhubuti
First Published in Earthquake and Sunrise Missions, Third World Press

As you can see I'm in quite a poetic mood.

After seven revisions the synopsis is done and sent out to my readers for feedback. My earth angels/fellow travelers on this road who have no problem telling me what's awful and what's good. Next step, a cursory review of each chapter to see if/how each serves the plot (synopsis). Scene analyses to see which scenes are too long, too short or just plain undeserving. Charachter checks to see who's getting too much play, who's not getting enough and who just needs to be cut. Basically, juxtaposing the synopsis and the outline (chapter by chapter) checking for congruity. Lots of cuts at this point. Cuts are good. Should be able to complete that in a week or so. My schedule for next week is looking kind of tight (nephew coming for a week) so I'm going to allot myself 10 -14days to be on the safe side.

What's with all the scheduling? Well, I was reading a piece in Real Simple last night about a woman who shelved her first novel for a long time then went back to it and gave herself one summer (three months) to finish it and put it out in the world. She established a "due date." Thought about this and decided yes, much like a baby has a due date, this novel needs to have a due date. I need to put myself on a schedule for each task b/c one thing about writing novels ... you can literally drown. You can hide behind its massiveness for years. Sister Alice likens it the rutabagas in her garden -- tough, thick, massive -- as opposed to the poems which are simply like roses. It takes as long as it takes and one shouldn't rush an unfinished product out into the world. But at some point there's got to be a cutoff. Oui ?

Oui.

So a valid, reasonable due date? I'm so linear in my thought process, I'd love to shoot for December 31st. That's roughly six months. BUT, I can't get started on a full time writing schedule until August when the kids go back to school. Summer's just too unpredictable and a very lazy time indeed. Plus, Kid 1 is hanging out with me most days. Talker that she is, it's hard to get stuff done that requires deep contemplation. So let's add two months to the proposed date (allowing, essentially, for the two I'm losing during the summer) and we have a February 29th due date. So I will do as much as I can with the novel and since the work for the chapbook is already done, I can complete that project by summer's end.

Ah me ...

Be well. Be Love(d).

A.