Parable of a Weak-ass Nigga
Marvin X at the University of Chicago, 2015
photo Burrell Sunrise
At my Academy of Da Corner, 14th and Broadway, downtown Oakland, I used to hear many things, not only from people who spoke directly to me as I sold my books and made myself accessible to all Oakland's citizens, which meant I sometimes served as grief counselor, marriage and partner relations advisor. Often people would line up at my stand to seek advice and wisdom. Understand, I did not advertise myself as counselor, only as a writer. Still, people apparently noticed discussions at my stand and I suppose they surmised they could bring their problems to me, especially since there appeared no other persons they could find accessible to speak with and share their suffering. As we know, the few persons lucky enough to have a therapist who is available ten minutes per month to unravel the conundrums of their lives. At my Academy of Da Corner, people sometimes got up in my face eye-ball to eye-ball to make sure I had their full attention. They were not joking, alas, they were desperate to be heard by someone, anyone, so I was the one. And I not only gave them free advice but allowed them to spend hours sitting with me, although the consensus was an hour was more than enough time to entertain my "different point of view" that was "brutally honest" and "very blunt!"
But what amused me was not hearing the testimonies of those who spoke to me directly, rather hearing those who came to 14th and Broadway and discussed loudly on their cell phones the trauma of their lives. Yes, 14th and Broadway is the crossroads of Oakland, so it is Legba's "yard office" (borrowing a term from where I worked while an inmate at Terminal Island Federal Prison after I endured two self-imposed exiles in Canada, Mexico City and Belize, from which I was deported back to my beautiful homeland of the USA).
One day I heard a young lady taking on her cell across the street from me by Chase Bank. She told somebody, "I hate a weak-ass nigga. Shit, I'm the baby daddy, he the baby mama. I leave the baby with him and I bounce! I hate a weak-ass niggah! Girl, I done told dat nigga to come at me proper with his shit together, yeah, come at me correct or leave me the fuck alone. I can do good by my motherfuckin' self. Yeah, dat's what I told dat bitch ass nigga!"
--Marvin X
4/30/21
See the coming issue of Outlaw Magazine for a full discussion of partner relations based on Marvin X's magnum opus Mythology of Pussy and Dick. We hope to release this founding issue of Outlaw Magazine by the poet's 77th birthday, May 29, 2021.
If you would like to send a generous donation to help cover printing costs @ $3,000.00, please send your donation to his Gofundme account @ Black Bird Press News and Review, organized by Marvin X Jackmon