In lieu of an abstract, here is a brief excerpt of the content:

Callaloo 29.4 (2007) 1347

from "I Don't Want to Live Anywhere Where They Are Killing Me"
Kalamu ya Salaam

4.

I don't want to live anywhere where they have
tried to kill us even if it was once a place
I called home-but still and all, my bones
don't cotton to Boston, I can't breath
that thinness they call air in Colorado,
a Minnesota snow angel don't mean shit
to me, and still and all, even with all of that,
all the many complaints that taint my
appreciation of charity, help and shelter,
even though I know there is no turning back
to drier times, still, as still as a fan when
the man done cut the 'lectric off, still,
regardless of how much I hate the taste
of bland food, still, I may never go back,
not to live, maybe for a used to be
visit, like how every now and then you
go by a graveyard… I am not bitter, I am
just trying to answer the question:
what is life without a home?
what is life, without
a home? and how long does it take
to grow a new one?

Kalamu ya Salaam is founder of NOMMO Literary Society and of Runagate Multimedia, both of which are New Orleans based institutions. His numerous publications include "My Story, My Song" (a spoken-word CD, AFO Records) and What Is Live?—The Reclamation of The Black Blues Self. This New Orleans native is also a filmmaker, producer, and arts administrator.

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