performance and the poem 103poetry also shares his intention to reach a public and incite politi-
cal change. Originally named LeRoi Jones, Baraka assumed his
Muslim name in 1967 , which coincided with his focus upon Black
Nationalism. Baraka’s writing during this time placed an empha-
sis on poetry as a political vehicle generating action and cultural
defi nition, and allied to radical social revolution. In an early poem
Baraka addresses his own work as ‘assassin poems’ or poetry as
weaponry.^9 This sentiment is emphasised in his militant and early
manifesto that claims:
The Black Artist’s role in America is to aid the destruction
of America as he knows it. His role is to report and refl ect so
precisely the nature of society, and of himself in that society,
that other men will be moved by the exactness of his ren-
dering and, if they are black men, grow strong through this
moving.^10While Baraka’s political emphasis shifted from Black Nationalism
to Third World Marxism in 1974 , he remained attuned to the sonic
resonance of poetry as a performance. Baraka indicates that Olson’s
sense of an open form is integral to his own writing. In ‘How do
you Sound’ the poet announces that poetic form must be free and
not predetermined: ‘ “All is permitted”... There cannot be any-
thing I must fi t the poem into. Everything must fi t into the poem.
There must not be any preconceived notion or design of what the
poem ought to be.’^11 In our context of performance, it is important
to note that Baraka also states that ‘ “Who knows what a poem
ought to sound like? Until it’s thar” Says Charles Olson... & I
follow closely with that’ (p. 645 ). This early work debunks ideas of
tradition by adding ‘The only “recognizable tradition” a poet need
follow is himself... & with that, say all those things out of tradi-
tion he can use, adapt, work over into something for himself. To
broaden his own voice with’ (p. 645 ).
The importance of voice as performance is crucial to an under-
standing of Baraka’s poetry. In the essay ‘Expressive Language’
( 1963 ) the poet emphasises the power of discourse and the impor-
tance of adopting different personas within the play of linguistic
performance: