Dreams

By J. Floyd / March 1, 1975

Black hands sticking out of a prison cell

Edmund Marshall

Cover for Southern Exposure's Southern Black Utterances Today cover featuring a woodcut print of a Black man's face gazing upward, by Atlanta artist Lucious Hightower

This article originally appeared in Southern Exposure Vol. 3 No. 1, "Southern Black Utterances Today." Find more from that issue here.

Some men dream of climbing mountains

but I dream of stepping up from the pit of hunger and being full

cause I believe that if I am full

I can climb a mountain

 

Some men dream of conquering outer space

but I dream of breaking these chains of materialistic desires

for I believe that if these chains are broken

my thoughts will elevate me to the top of the cosmos and beyond

 

Some men dream of finding the end of the rainbow

but I dream of someday looking up and just seeing the rainbow

for I believe that should I get a glimpse of the rainbow

I'll be already halfway there

 

Some men dream of getting rich

but I dream of getting enough money

to buy some matches

to set fire to expensive coattails

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J. Floyd

J. Floyd is a brother behind the walls in Nashville, Tennessee. (1975)

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