So I'm going to read a few new ones now.
The next one, I wrote this--
it's newer than the book, I will say.
I wrote this a couple of years ago.
And it was the summer after Eric Garner and Michael Brown died.
And I was thinking about how this sort of things
have been happening since America just has existed.
And after an event like this, especially now that
it's so much in the public conversation.
There's a conversation that inevitably follows
about what someone could have done to not be
shot in the street without conversation or trial,
and how they might have behaved differently
in order to save themselves.
And so I wrote this kind of thinking about the fallacy
of that kind of conversation.
"Survival Guide for Animals Born in Captivity."
The trick is to get on the ground
and fold yourself into a small soft shape, to be in no way
sudden, to smile, but keep your lips tight shut.
The trick is, don't get smart, don't dream, don't imagine.
Pull yourself up, but not too up.
Don't forget.
You don't belong to anyone or any place at all.
Don't flinch.
Don't startle.
The trick is, you were never meant to be let in.
This life is not for you.
Don't protest.
Don't complain.
The trick is, you buck against your skin.
The boys look like men.
And the girls get exactly what they want.
Surrender, deserve it.
The trick is, your body itself is a violence.
This is all your fault.