MY PERSON IS WEAKENING. The discipline developed to build the kinté space and meticulously prepare my own books of poetry for publication has taken “too long”—this journey has been going on for over ten years. Mine is the story of an artist with so much promise but with so little product. Mine is the story of a person born into a “cultural situation” where my talents are “worthless” without the right politics. These words do not come with regret. These words come to remind the reader (and myself) of the context. As much as we may watch television and/or take drugs to remove ourselves, there is no escape: we are in context. Many have come before me under much worse circumstances…

I have one offering this month: it is “The American Dream.” This is the first time since the kinté space appeared on the web that a Bryan Wilhite poem appears in “plain” HTML. I have been “waiting” for my self-published works to appear in print, in sound recordings and/or in motion pictures. I have the ISBN numbers, the software, the marketing plan and I am looking into the UPC stuff as well. But, as usual, I am dealing with economic issues not unlike that of an African country saddled with IMF debt (which is quite pathetic since I did this to myself instead of being among innocent people exploited by a ruling elite—right?). Nevertheless, I fully intend to recover from my tax-deductible “prosumer investing” and these words mark quite a challenging time in my life. “The American Dream” is an attempt to meet this challenge with creativity and catharsis.

So, for those who do not wish me well, hello again—been a long time. And for those who have friendship for my person, good morning—we have work to do. And for those who find all of this strange, saying, “Why does he always attack ancient Rome?” and, “If he’s so talented then why isn’t he published by a real publishing company?” I say to you howdy stranger—you might want to check out Saul Williams. Saul has a book published under the auspices of MTV and you may find him on UPN as a regular on one of their television series. Saul is very talented and I am not bullshitting you or trying to be coy. I am quite serious. One look at the movie Slam should free me from any accusations of jealous facetiousness.

In fact, I am so serious that I don’t want the words that I love to be published by those I “hate.” There is a certain cleansing spirituality about producing the entire thing yourself instead of clinging to the very thing you despise and trying to deal with the hypocritical fallout after “the success.” Do not envy your oppressor. You can win on your own terms or (happily) die trying. See you in the funny papers.

News Flash: Since Tuesday, July 08, 2003 9:40:27 PM Songhay System has published Bryan Wilhite’s first poetry chapbook (the ISBN numbers are still held in reserve)! “The Adolescence of the Cool” is available at lulu.com!