Amiri Baraka is one of the very few American poets who has consistently put his words, his head, his heart, and his body on the line in the struggle for liberation. In the twenty-five years that it has been my privilege to know him, I have seen him take the raw angers of his youth and transform them into magical positive forces which have helped change our world.

Not many have done this; not many are capable of it. The enormous strength inside this man has allowed him to do it, and in exercising that strength he has become stronger . . . . He has taught me, more than any other person, how one ought to live. For this, and for the poems, and for the friendship, I can only thank him.

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From "Amiri Baraka," from Amiri Baraka: The Kaleidoscopic Torch.