WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.150 align:middle line:84% And this last poem is a poem called "Avalanche." 00:00:03.150 --> 00:00:04.650 align:middle line:90% I grew up in the church. 00:00:04.650 --> 00:00:07.440 align:middle line:84% And I always wanted to write a poem about the church. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:08.930 align:middle line:90% And its a title poem for my-- 00:00:08.930 --> 00:00:14.880 align:middle line:90% 00:00:14.880 --> 00:00:17.400 align:middle line:90% this book Avalanche. 00:00:17.400 --> 00:00:23.370 align:middle line:90% And I just showed it to you. 00:00:23.370 --> 00:00:27.150 align:middle line:84% Don't ask me why I had showed it [INAUDIABLE].. 00:00:27.150 --> 00:00:31.080 align:middle line:84% Maybe I wanted you to see José Bedia's painting on the cover. 00:00:31.080 --> 00:00:35.070 align:middle line:84% That would be crazy anyway [INAUDIBLE] Anyway, 00:00:35.070 --> 00:00:37.395 align:middle line:90% I grew up in the Baptist church. 00:00:37.395 --> 00:00:40.020 align:middle line:84% And one day, I went home and my mother said, why don't you ever 00:00:40.020 --> 00:00:41.312 align:middle line:90% write about the Baptist church? 00:00:41.312 --> 00:00:44.040 align:middle line:84% I said, because I don't think about it. 00:00:44.040 --> 00:00:45.518 align:middle line:90% [LAUGHTER] 00:00:45.518 --> 00:00:46.560 align:middle line:90% You don't think about it. 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:47.370 align:middle line:90% My brother's a minister. 00:00:47.370 --> 00:00:48.390 align:middle line:90% I don't think about it. 00:00:48.390 --> 00:00:49.830 align:middle line:90% I mean, it's cool. 00:00:49.830 --> 00:00:52.410 align:middle line:84% But I thought about that when I went home. 00:00:52.410 --> 00:00:54.300 align:middle line:90% And I wrote this poem. 00:00:54.300 --> 00:00:55.770 align:middle line:90% It's not about the church. 00:00:55.770 --> 00:00:59.910 align:middle line:84% It's about the feeling that you get in the Black Baptist 00:00:59.910 --> 00:01:03.480 align:middle line:84% church, those rhythms that you get when the minister's up 00:01:03.480 --> 00:01:04.260 align:middle line:90% in the pulpit. 00:01:04.260 --> 00:01:06.180 align:middle line:90% And those choirs are singing. 00:01:06.180 --> 00:01:09.090 align:middle line:84% And that antiphon stuff is flowing back and forth 00:01:09.090 --> 00:01:10.980 align:middle line:84% between the minister and the choir 00:01:10.980 --> 00:01:14.550 align:middle line:84% and the congregation, which also comes also 00:01:14.550 --> 00:01:18.990 align:middle line:84% in jazz and the blues, that whole thing of antiphony, call 00:01:18.990 --> 00:01:22.020 align:middle line:90% and response, call and response. 00:01:22.020 --> 00:01:26.060 align:middle line:84% So that's what this poem's about. 00:01:26.060 --> 00:01:33.950 align:middle line:84% "Avalanche For K. Curtis Lyle and the memory of Richard Wright." 00:01:33.950 --> 00:01:37.130 align:middle line:84% "Within an avalanche of glory hallelujah skybreaks, 00:01:37.130 --> 00:01:40.250 align:middle line:84% spraying syllables on the run, spreading sheets, 00:01:40.250 --> 00:01:44.420 align:middle line:84% waving holy sounds, solos sluicing African bound. 00:01:44.420 --> 00:01:46.670 align:middle line:84% Transformed in America from voodoo 00:01:46.670 --> 00:01:50.660 align:middle line:84% into hoodoo, inside tonguing blues, snaking horns, where 00:01:50.660 --> 00:01:53.460 align:middle line:84% juju grounds down sacred up in chords. 00:01:53.460 --> 00:01:55.730 align:middle line:84% Up in the gritty foofoo, magical, 00:01:55.730 --> 00:01:58.160 align:middle line:84% where fleet rounds of cadences whirlpool 00:01:58.160 --> 00:02:02.000 align:middle line:84% as in rivers, where memory spins down foaming into dances 00:02:02.000 --> 00:02:04.880 align:middle line:84% like storms swallowed here in a burst of suns, 00:02:04.880 --> 00:02:08.150 align:middle line:84% up in the yeasting blue voodoo, holding the secret clues 00:02:08.150 --> 00:02:11.060 align:middle line:84% mum inside the mystery, unfolding up 00:02:11.060 --> 00:02:12.980 align:middle line:84% in the caking dishrag of daybreak, 00:02:12.980 --> 00:02:17.180 align:middle line:84% miracles shaking out earthquakes of lights like mojo hands 00:02:17.180 --> 00:02:20.060 align:middle line:84% luminous with spangling, and are the vamping blood songs 00:02:20.060 --> 00:02:22.160 align:middle line:84% of call response, the vamping blood 00:02:22.160 --> 00:02:23.990 align:middle line:90% songs of call and response. 00:02:23.990 --> 00:02:26.930 align:middle line:84% As in the pulpit, when a preacher becomes his words, 00:02:26.930 --> 00:02:30.650 align:middle line:84% his rhythms those of a sacred bluesman dead outside his door. 00:02:30.650 --> 00:02:33.860 align:middle line:84% His gospel intersecting with antiphonal guitars, 00:02:33.860 --> 00:02:36.395 align:middle line:84% a congregation of amens as in the slurred riffs 00:02:36.395 --> 00:02:38.900 align:middle line:84% the blues strings run back echoing themselves, 00:02:38.900 --> 00:02:41.600 align:middle line:84% answering the call, the voice cracked open like an egg. 00:02:41.600 --> 00:02:42.680 align:middle line:90% The yolk running out. 00:02:42.680 --> 00:02:44.840 align:middle line:84% The lungs imitating collapsed drums. 00:02:44.840 --> 00:02:48.230 align:middle line:84% And he is the rainbowing confluence of sacred tongues, 00:02:48.230 --> 00:02:51.560 align:middle line:84% the griot, the devotion of rivers all up in his hands, 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:52.910 align:middle line:90% all up in his fingers. 00:02:52.910 --> 00:02:55.970 align:middle line:84% His call both invocation and quaking sermon, 00:02:55.970 --> 00:02:58.645 align:middle line:84% running true and holy as drumming cadences brewed 00:02:58.645 --> 00:03:01.880 align:middle line:84% in Black church choirs, glory hallelujah vowels 00:03:01.880 --> 00:03:04.310 align:middle line:84% spreading from their mouths like wolfman's mojo 00:03:04.310 --> 00:03:06.290 align:middle line:84% all up in Mahalia Jackson's lungs. 00:03:06.290 --> 00:03:09.680 align:middle line:84% Howling vowels rolled off hoodoo consonants, brewing magic 00:03:09.680 --> 00:03:12.140 align:middle line:84% all up in the preacher's run, of muddy water 00:03:12.140 --> 00:03:14.540 align:middle line:84% strung all up in the form drenched with coltrane, 00:03:14.540 --> 00:03:18.080 align:middle line:84% riffing all up in miles of Lightnin' Hopkins' mojo song, 00:03:18.080 --> 00:03:21.170 align:middle line:84% blues yeasting lungs of bird when music is raised up 00:03:21.170 --> 00:03:24.290 align:middle line:84% as prayer and lives, healing as June's sun quilted 00:03:24.290 --> 00:03:27.650 align:middle line:84% into black babies' tongues sewn deep in their lungs as power 00:03:27.650 --> 00:03:29.720 align:middle line:84% and blueprinted here in breath of rappers. 00:03:29.720 --> 00:03:32.660 align:middle line:84% And this is a poem in praise of continuity. 00:03:32.660 --> 00:03:34.970 align:middle line:84% Is a poem about blood coursing through tongues. 00:03:34.970 --> 00:03:38.180 align:middle line:84% Is a praise song for drowned voices lost in Middle Passage. 00:03:38.180 --> 00:03:41.420 align:middle line:84% Is a praise song for the slashed drums of Obatala. 00:03:41.420 --> 00:03:44.480 align:middle line:84% Is a construct of orikis linking antiphonal bridges. 00:03:44.480 --> 00:03:47.780 align:middle line:84% Is a praise song tonguing deep mojo secrets, Damballa, 00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:49.760 align:middle line:84% in praise of the great God's blessings, 00:03:49.760 --> 00:03:53.570 align:middle line:84% Oshun, in praise of healing songs sewn into tongues, 00:03:53.570 --> 00:03:56.390 align:middle line:84% inflating sweet lungs into a cacophony of singing, 00:03:56.390 --> 00:03:58.940 align:middle line:84% praise songs tonguing deep mojo secrets. 00:03:58.940 --> 00:04:01.490 align:middle line:84% And this poem is about music, when 00:04:01.490 --> 00:04:03.800 align:middle line:84% music is what it believes it is, holy, 00:04:03.800 --> 00:04:06.830 align:middle line:84% when voices harmonize, somersaulting colors in flight. 00:04:06.830 --> 00:04:09.230 align:middle line:84% And glory is the miracle poetry sings 00:04:09.230 --> 00:04:11.180 align:middle line:84% to in that great getting-up morning, 00:04:11.180 --> 00:04:13.940 align:middle line:84% within the vortex of wonder, confluencing rivers, 00:04:13.940 --> 00:04:17.029 align:middle line:84% light glory in the rainbows arching like eyebrows 00:04:17.029 --> 00:04:19.160 align:middle line:84% across suns, glory in the moonlight 00:04:19.160 --> 00:04:21.260 align:middle line:84% staring from a one-eyed cat's head and eye 00:04:21.260 --> 00:04:23.900 align:middle line:84% want to be glory and flow in that light. 00:04:23.900 --> 00:04:26.540 align:middle line:84% Want to be coltrane's solos living in me. 00:04:26.540 --> 00:04:29.180 align:middle line:84% Want to become wonder of birds in flight of my lines. 00:04:29.180 --> 00:04:31.940 align:middle line:84% Want the glory of song healing in me as sunlight. 00:04:31.940 --> 00:04:34.610 align:middle line:84% Want it tongued through leaves, metaphoring trees 00:04:34.610 --> 00:04:37.520 align:middle line:84% transformed where they seed and stand up here as people 00:04:37.520 --> 00:04:39.860 align:middle line:84% in this soil, everything rooted here 00:04:39.860 --> 00:04:41.630 align:middle line:90% in blood of mother's flesh. 00:04:41.630 --> 00:04:44.210 align:middle line:84% And is the poetry of God in deep forest 00:04:44.210 --> 00:04:45.890 align:middle line:90% time singing and listening. 00:04:45.890 --> 00:04:49.250 align:middle line:84% And the music there is green as it also is purple, 00:04:49.250 --> 00:04:52.700 align:middle line:84% as it also is orange brown and mind-blowing electric banana, 00:04:52.700 --> 00:04:55.880 align:middle line:84% as it is red cinnamon, and also again, green sound 00:04:55.880 --> 00:04:57.290 align:middle line:90% ground up against lavender. 00:04:57.290 --> 00:04:59.420 align:middle line:84% And each sunsets fusing crisp blue light. 00:04:59.420 --> 00:05:02.810 align:middle line:84% And night here stitched with fireflies, flicking gold up 00:05:02.810 --> 00:05:03.920 align:middle line:90% against bold midnight. 00:05:03.920 --> 00:05:07.250 align:middle line:84% And once again, yes, green as shimmering Caribbean palm 00:05:07.250 --> 00:05:10.940 align:middle line:84% fronds are green in the center of apocalyptic chaos. 00:05:10.940 --> 00:05:13.730 align:middle line:84% And my poem here is reaching for that greenness, 00:05:13.730 --> 00:05:16.310 align:middle line:84% is reaching for holy luminosity, shimmering 00:05:16.310 --> 00:05:19.010 align:middle line:84% in gold flecked light, where the mojo hand is seaming 00:05:19.010 --> 00:05:22.550 align:middle line:84% through high blue mornings, waving like a sequined glove 00:05:22.550 --> 00:05:25.520 align:middle line:84% up in the glory of hallelujahs, calling through the inner tube 00:05:25.520 --> 00:05:29.000 align:middle line:84% lips of the great God singing, up in the blues-root-doctors 00:05:29.000 --> 00:05:31.400 align:middle line:84% jacklegging sermon up in the condolences, 00:05:31.400 --> 00:05:34.460 align:middle line:84% mourning death up in the sunburst of God's glory. 00:05:34.460 --> 00:05:37.880 align:middle line:84% I want this poem to kneel down itself before healing. 00:05:37.880 --> 00:05:39.960 align:middle line:84% Want it to be magic there beneath the crucifixion 00:05:39.960 --> 00:05:40.460 align:middle line:90% of light. 00:05:40.460 --> 00:05:42.830 align:middle line:84% Want it to be praise song, juju rooted. 00:05:42.830 --> 00:05:45.500 align:middle line:84% Want it to be mojo hand raised up to powers of flight. 00:05:45.500 --> 00:05:48.110 align:middle line:84% Want it to be tongue of gritty foofoo, feeding. 00:05:48.110 --> 00:05:50.930 align:middle line:84% Want it to be a congregation slurring amen riffs, 00:05:50.930 --> 00:05:54.110 align:middle line:84% running back through me to you, the voice raised up here, 00:05:54.110 --> 00:05:55.820 align:middle line:90% guitar blues licks, holy. 00:05:55.820 --> 00:05:59.150 align:middle line:84% Want it to be glory hallelujah call and response, glory. 00:05:59.150 --> 00:06:02.210 align:middle line:84% Want it to be yam song rooted in the bloody river, holy. 00:06:02.210 --> 00:06:05.480 align:middle line:84% Want it to be ground earth of resurrections in you, in me. 00:06:05.480 --> 00:06:08.630 align:middle line:84% The bridge tongue of healing is the drum of this song. 00:06:08.630 --> 00:06:11.780 align:middle line:84% And it is reaching out to you to cross over to the sun, 00:06:11.780 --> 00:06:13.780 align:middle line:84% is reaching out to touch your heartbeat there 00:06:13.780 --> 00:06:17.330 align:middle line:84% to become one in the glory, to feel the healing touch, 00:06:17.330 --> 00:06:19.100 align:middle line:90% to become one with the glory. 00:06:19.100 --> 00:06:21.290 align:middle line:84% This poem waits for you to cross over, 00:06:21.290 --> 00:06:24.170 align:middle line:84% to cross over the heartbeat touch of your healing hands, 00:06:24.170 --> 00:06:25.760 align:middle line:90% touching hands, touching hearts. 00:06:25.760 --> 00:06:29.510 align:middle line:84% This poem waits for you to cross over, to cross over. 00:06:29.510 --> 00:06:33.340 align:middle line:84% This poem waits for you to cross over, to cross over love. 00:06:33.340 --> 00:06:36.850 align:middle line:84% This poem waits for you to cross over, to cross over love. 00:06:36.850 --> 00:06:41.050 align:middle line:84% This poem waits for you to cross over, to cross over to love, 00:06:41.050 --> 00:06:43.260 align:middle line:90% to love, to love." 00:06:43.260 --> 00:06:44.750 align:middle line:90% 00:06:44.750 --> 00:06:46.550 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:06:46.550 --> 00:06:47.450 align:middle line:90% Thank you very much. 00:06:47.450 --> 00:06:49.550 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE] 00:06:49.550 --> 00:06:53.750 align:middle line:90% 00:06:53.750 --> 00:06:55.600 align:middle line:90% Thank you.