WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.230 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.230 --> 00:00:04.410 align:middle line:84%
"Ode to the man who leaned out
the truck to call me nigger."

00:00:04.410 --> 00:00:07.740 align:middle line:90%


00:00:07.740 --> 00:00:12.180 align:middle line:84%
Before I met you, before you
leaned out the truck window

00:00:12.180 --> 00:00:17.020 align:middle line:84%
to call me nigger, I knew
nothing of my own flesh's

00:00:17.020 --> 00:00:21.420 align:middle line:90%
surrender to blood, dust.

00:00:21.420 --> 00:00:23.730 align:middle line:90%
But I did know speed.

00:00:23.730 --> 00:00:28.470 align:middle line:84%
I knew the weight of lumber and
the forearm's debt to torque.

00:00:28.470 --> 00:00:32.759 align:middle line:84%
I knew, and loved, the
sound of shattering glass,

00:00:32.759 --> 00:00:35.070 align:middle line:84%
the quick snap of
a duressed jaw.

00:00:35.070 --> 00:00:37.200 align:middle line:84%
I knew the taste
of my own blood.

00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:41.550 align:middle line:84%
I'd had a fist test the tension
of my kneecaps, my heart's

00:00:41.550 --> 00:00:44.170 align:middle line:90%
tight buckle.

00:00:44.170 --> 00:00:46.540 align:middle line:84%
What you taught
me as I leaned out

00:00:46.540 --> 00:00:50.230 align:middle line:84%
the window, New York speeding
by at 50 miles an hour,

00:00:50.230 --> 00:00:54.760 align:middle line:84%
to catch you, was about the
song of the air at night.

00:00:54.760 --> 00:00:58.480 align:middle line:84%
How-- as I braced my foot
against the dash and limboed

00:00:58.480 --> 00:01:00.670 align:middle line:84%
out to swing at
your windscreen--

00:01:00.670 --> 00:01:04.060 align:middle line:84%
I craved the tympani
of glass and metal,

00:01:04.060 --> 00:01:07.720 align:middle line:90%
the soprano of your screams.

00:01:07.720 --> 00:01:11.860 align:middle line:84%
So easily, I could have fallen
under your truck's wheels.

00:01:11.860 --> 00:01:14.410 align:middle line:84%
I was in search of
love, and somehow

00:01:14.410 --> 00:01:17.330 align:middle line:84%
knew you had it
to give in blood,

00:01:17.330 --> 00:01:21.340 align:middle line:84%
which I needed to husband
my quiet, quiet rage.

00:01:21.340 --> 00:01:25.660 align:middle line:84%
I had not thought then about
how I wanted my body disposed,

00:01:25.660 --> 00:01:28.870 align:middle line:84%
that I loved a woman to
call me names in bed.

00:01:28.870 --> 00:01:34.090 align:middle line:84%
I wanted a song that was
mine, something to belong to,

00:01:34.090 --> 00:01:36.400 align:middle line:84%
a love I'd recognize
when I heard

00:01:36.400 --> 00:01:41.170 align:middle line:90%
my name sung in the street.

00:01:41.170 --> 00:01:44.520 align:middle line:90%
[APPLAUSE]

00:01:44.520 --> 00:01:48.000 align:middle line:90%