All right.
So Afaa Michael Weaver invented this poetry form
called The Bop.
All right?
Bop-- so I've tried writing a few Bops.
This one, I think, might almost work.
This Bop might almost always almost work.
And I was both freaked out and pleased,
because I read it once when he was in the audience.
And he was like, that's all right.
[LAUGHTER]
So yeah, the song--
for those of y'all that don't know what a Bop is,
shame on you.
[LAUGHTER]
So a Bop is a form that progresses both formally--
and to form, I always think about as,
how much of what kind?
But then there's structure, which
is invisible-- the cognitive part, the way
the thoughts move through the poem.
And most poetic forms don't really include a structure.
Sonnets include a structure-- argue, argue, argue, counter--
along with the rules, the architectural rules.
One might make the argument that haiku, juxtaposition--
and then right before you get to the moment of epiphany,
because recently in contemporary poets in the US
we're kind of inside pornographers.
So it's all about, let's have an epiphany.
Oh my god.
I was lying in my hammock, and I realized that the red--
right?
[LAUGHTER]
But the haiku, I always felt, set up
the condition for the reader to have an epiphany as
opposed to sort of voyeuristically
watching the poet be deep.
So one might make that argument in structure.
But with the Bop, the form is sestet--
six-line stanza-- followed by a quote from a song, an octave,
eight lines--
followed by the same quote as refrain,
and then another sestet at the end, followed
by the same quote as refrain.
And the structure, the ideational structure,
is presentation of a problem in the first.
Working through the problem in the middle.
And the final one is resolution of the problem.
But Afaa Michael Weaver's--
That doesn't mean the problem's solved.
It might just mean that you're ready to move on
with the problem.
And so this quotes "Da Mystery of Chessboxin'" from Wu-Tang
Clan--
in particular, a line from Raekwon's verse.
[BEATBOXING]
[ELECTRONIC BEAT]
"African Merkin Bop a.k.a.
woke up this morning a.k.a.
"Da Mystery--" these are to be good at the worst
of the things were a good one of the worst of the things
one could be.
Add it.
Right?
Either to be good at the worst of the things
or a good one of the worst of the things one could be.
Add it.
Right?
So, to me, to be bad at the worst of the things could,
in the worst way, which is bad--
since it's bad to be for the good.
And thus good to the worst of things one could be.
At it.
[INAUDIBLE]
Either to be good at the worst of the things
or a good one of the worst of the things one could be.
At it.
Right?
So, to me, to be bad at the worst of the things,
good in the worst way, which is bad--
since it's bad to the good and thus
good to the worst of things one can be.
At it.
I only been a good nigga for a minute, though.
[BEATBOXING]
Too bads a positive when times them times.
But time comes to write the worst of the ways.
It's good.
That's good.
It's good.
It's as bad as the bad does to be of good things
to see the bad things as the worst of things,
which ain't no no good.
Too bads a positive, with times, of them time.
But time comes to right the worst
of the ways which is good.
And that's good.
That's good.
He's so bad.
That's so bad.
Plus, to be a good thing, to see the bad things as the worst
of things, which ain't no good.
I only been a good nigga for a minute though.
You know how I feel.
The light goes on, hey, for a darkness I jet.
As though dawned-up to the illest sensation.
I reach the shit and feel me.
I'm at it.
Only been a, only been a, only been
a good nigga for a minute though.
I only been a good nigga for a minute though.
da dun doooooooooonnnnnnnnne