WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:08.250 align:middle line:90% 00:00:08.250 --> 00:00:10.890 align:middle line:90% "Who real?" 00:00:10.890 --> 00:00:15.210 align:middle line:84% The return of poem to be read from right to left. 00:00:15.210 --> 00:00:17.490 align:middle line:84% "For when you are ready to follow 00:00:17.490 --> 00:00:21.565 align:middle line:84% a tendency of anonymous feathers," Zaina Alsous. 00:00:21.565 --> 00:00:24.670 align:middle line:90% 00:00:24.670 --> 00:00:28.300 align:middle line:84% Well, I say, to no one in particular, 00:00:28.300 --> 00:00:33.160 align:middle line:84% this isn't the first time I've backed us out of a disaster. 00:00:33.160 --> 00:00:34.510 align:middle line:90% Record scratch. 00:00:34.510 --> 00:00:39.610 align:middle line:84% Nah, you ain't wondering how we got here, freeze frame. 00:00:39.610 --> 00:00:42.610 align:middle line:84% And if it doesn't feel like an NDE, 00:00:42.610 --> 00:00:44.740 align:middle line:90% you probably ain't living right. 00:00:44.740 --> 00:00:48.670 align:middle line:84% And if you don't get that, this poem ain't for you. 00:00:48.670 --> 00:00:51.010 align:middle line:90% Now pen back to the scene. 00:00:51.010 --> 00:00:58.330 align:middle line:84% Now that we've kicked the CIA, NSA, FBI, out, left hand on 12, 00:00:58.330 --> 00:01:02.190 align:middle line:84% right hand gripping the top of the passenger seat. 00:01:02.190 --> 00:01:07.080 align:middle line:84% Oh, I cantered out here, now I'm galloping back. 00:01:07.080 --> 00:01:11.010 align:middle line:84% I return, and you, dear reader, are tired of my saying, 00:01:11.010 --> 00:01:12.620 align:middle line:90% I return. 00:01:12.620 --> 00:01:16.730 align:middle line:84% A man unbuckles his belt before entering security, 00:01:16.730 --> 00:01:19.070 align:middle line:90% and someone is aroused. 00:01:19.070 --> 00:01:22.900 align:middle line:90% This is our state. 00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:25.980 align:middle line:84% The first professor to see a shorter draft of this poem 00:01:25.980 --> 00:01:30.330 align:middle line:84% asks, how long I could sustain this stylistic device? 00:01:30.330 --> 00:01:32.430 align:middle line:84% I counter with, I don't know, prof. 00:01:32.430 --> 00:01:34.170 align:middle line:84% How long do you think the khwhite's 00:01:34.170 --> 00:01:38.220 align:middle line:84% heteronormative, demonic, hegemonic, mnemonic trademark 00:01:38.220 --> 00:01:40.930 align:middle line:90% can sustain itself? 00:01:40.930 --> 00:01:45.210 align:middle line:84% Now I'm American and all the class clown and road rage 00:01:45.210 --> 00:01:47.550 align:middle line:90% I could never be. 00:01:47.550 --> 00:01:50.490 align:middle line:90% Besides, this is no device. 00:01:50.490 --> 00:01:52.830 align:middle line:90% LOL is palindrome. 00:01:52.830 --> 00:01:55.410 align:middle line:90% Lolololol. 00:01:55.410 --> 00:01:57.690 align:middle line:84% It took a whole global pandemic for you 00:01:57.690 --> 00:02:00.270 align:middle line:90% to institutionalize yourselves. 00:02:00.270 --> 00:02:02.050 align:middle line:90% LOL. 00:02:02.050 --> 00:02:06.650 align:middle line:84% It took bioterrorism for you to get training in anti-racism. 00:02:06.650 --> 00:02:08.650 align:middle line:90% LOL. 00:02:08.650 --> 00:02:12.730 align:middle line:84% It is why the unwell are well and the well 00:02:12.730 --> 00:02:16.270 align:middle line:90% are unwell under duress. 00:02:16.270 --> 00:02:21.340 align:middle line:84% It is 11:11, I am many miles, many thousand miles 00:02:21.340 --> 00:02:26.950 align:middle line:84% in the air, trying to make a poem without a sound. 00:02:26.950 --> 00:02:29.290 align:middle line:84% I wrote, I grew tired of counting 00:02:29.290 --> 00:02:31.480 align:middle line:84% the number of English words it takes 00:02:31.480 --> 00:02:33.380 align:middle line:90% to capture one in another. 00:02:33.380 --> 00:02:36.250 align:middle line:84% But now I have grown tired of writing 00:02:36.250 --> 00:02:39.580 align:middle line:84% toward your inherent limitations. 00:02:39.580 --> 00:02:43.330 align:middle line:90% Compassion, yes, I have it. 00:02:43.330 --> 00:02:45.730 align:middle line:90% You woke up in Iraq. 00:02:45.730 --> 00:02:50.020 align:middle line:84% The dull among you still think that is a metaphor. 00:02:50.020 --> 00:02:51.340 align:middle line:90% Well, hello, then. 00:02:51.340 --> 00:02:53.980 align:middle line:90% I am Desert Storm. 00:02:53.980 --> 00:02:59.330 align:middle line:84% I sit on your sill at dawn and watch the woke wake up. 00:02:59.330 --> 00:03:00.440 align:middle line:90% Ha-ha. 00:03:00.440 --> 00:03:03.530 align:middle line:84% You thought the sandman had a gender. 00:03:03.530 --> 00:03:06.620 align:middle line:90% I wiped the sleep out your eye. 00:03:06.620 --> 00:03:10.070 align:middle line:84% Breaking news, Iraq was never ever waiting on your cream 00:03:10.070 --> 00:03:14.660 align:middle line:84% cheese, spreading charcoal, infused BPA, free ice cube, 00:03:14.660 --> 00:03:17.920 align:middle line:90% democracy. 00:03:17.920 --> 00:03:23.410 align:middle line:84% I, invasive species, I ante body you in your own language. 00:03:23.410 --> 00:03:26.500 align:middle line:84% Look how we light in language, so we 00:03:26.500 --> 00:03:31.190 align:middle line:84% fly like Toni taught Elmaz, who taught me. 00:03:31.190 --> 00:03:34.310 align:middle line:84% You were so caught up with my maker and model 00:03:34.310 --> 00:03:36.800 align:middle line:84% you miss the glory of this flight. 00:03:36.800 --> 00:03:41.870 align:middle line:84% I, mythical creature, already gone so far in the future. 00:03:41.870 --> 00:03:46.550 align:middle line:84% I made my own country with only two citizenship questions, 00:03:46.550 --> 00:03:47.780 align:middle line:90% who real? 00:03:47.780 --> 00:03:49.670 align:middle line:90% Who free? 00:03:49.670 --> 00:03:53.960 align:middle line:84% This, my hologram reading to you, because writing a book 00:03:53.960 --> 00:03:57.050 align:middle line:84% showed me you all can't read to save yourselves. 00:03:57.050 --> 00:04:00.950 align:middle line:84% Guess I had to write an Arabic to teach you English. 00:04:00.950 --> 00:04:03.320 align:middle line:90% Yo, Steph, I'm still pushing. 00:04:03.320 --> 00:04:05.810 align:middle line:90% Yeah, from Brooklyn. 00:04:05.810 --> 00:04:11.130 align:middle line:84% Did you all in invaders open those doors yet? 00:04:11.130 --> 00:04:14.490 align:middle line:84% I know you thought I would be all, I'm humbled, 00:04:14.490 --> 00:04:18.120 align:middle line:84% I am grateful for that New York Times review. 00:04:18.120 --> 00:04:22.860 align:middle line:84% And how is that Iraq revision going for you? 00:04:22.860 --> 00:04:25.250 align:middle line:90% How is it going? 00:04:25.250 --> 00:04:27.420 align:middle line:84% How's that Iraq revision going for you? 00:04:27.420 --> 00:04:30.900 align:middle line:90% 00:04:30.900 --> 00:04:33.520 align:middle line:84% Are you still at the window clapping at 7:00? 00:04:33.520 --> 00:04:36.280 align:middle line:90% Or was it 8:00 PM? 00:04:36.280 --> 00:04:38.800 align:middle line:84% No one ever needed your applause. 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:41.320 align:middle line:90% We needed protection. 00:04:41.320 --> 00:04:46.230 align:middle line:84% Another question while we're at it, is the window bulletproof? 00:04:46.230 --> 00:04:51.240 align:middle line:84% I assassinate this, a nonviolent stickup. 00:04:51.240 --> 00:04:54.750 align:middle line:84% Your bullets slow mine fast as future timelines, 00:04:54.750 --> 00:04:56.940 align:middle line:90% where you still tried to end me. 00:04:56.940 --> 00:05:00.990 align:middle line:84% I, infinite infinity, only I can unend me. 00:05:00.990 --> 00:05:05.400 align:middle line:84% This is what I read when you write, bar, bar, bar. 00:05:05.400 --> 00:05:09.690 align:middle line:84% Look at how you reveal yourselves. 00:05:09.690 --> 00:05:14.400 align:middle line:84% Now before you tell me how my anger is well, well justified, 00:05:14.400 --> 00:05:16.440 align:middle line:90% let me translate for you. 00:05:16.440 --> 00:05:20.800 align:middle line:84% Angry equals very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:22.545 align:middle line:90% very, very, very smart. 00:05:22.545 --> 00:05:25.050 align:middle line:90% 00:05:25.050 --> 00:05:26.220 align:middle line:90% Very smart. 00:05:26.220 --> 00:05:30.960 align:middle line:84% Angry equals, can no longer afford to suffer fools, 00:05:30.960 --> 00:05:34.500 align:middle line:90% can no longer carry you. 00:05:34.500 --> 00:05:37.200 align:middle line:90% And I welcome you to join me. 00:05:37.200 --> 00:05:39.390 align:middle line:84% That's why all the white supremacists 00:05:39.390 --> 00:05:43.060 align:middle line:84% moved to North Carolina racing to reproduce themselves. 00:05:43.060 --> 00:05:48.010 align:middle line:84% Meanwhile, legend has it when I was born I named myself. 00:05:48.010 --> 00:05:52.180 align:middle line:84% Name mean: those who refuse to surrender to injustice. 00:05:52.180 --> 00:05:56.180 align:middle line:84% And I am many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, 00:05:56.180 --> 00:05:57.880 align:middle line:90% many, many. 00:05:57.880 --> 00:06:02.530 align:middle line:84% I was wind and they tried to make me language. 00:06:02.530 --> 00:06:04.390 align:middle line:90% Tried to translate. 00:06:04.390 --> 00:06:06.920 align:middle line:90% Tried to empire me. 00:06:06.920 --> 00:06:09.320 align:middle line:90% They can't catch this free. 00:06:09.320 --> 00:06:12.410 align:middle line:84% But this is my third appearance and the first time 00:06:12.410 --> 00:06:13.730 align:middle line:90% they have paid me. 00:06:13.730 --> 00:06:17.420 align:middle line:84% So say it with me, gimme the loot. 00:06:17.420 --> 00:06:20.360 align:middle line:84% Gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme, gimme. 00:06:20.360 --> 00:06:21.800 align:middle line:90% Don't mind me. 00:06:21.800 --> 00:06:24.410 align:middle line:90% I mean, don't mind me. 00:06:24.410 --> 00:06:27.500 align:middle line:84% I humbly donate these 50 peanuts back 00:06:27.500 --> 00:06:29.630 align:middle line:90% to the academy of elephants. 00:06:29.630 --> 00:06:31.970 align:middle line:90% I am my own royalties. 00:06:31.970 --> 00:06:36.140 align:middle line:84% My next book already tatted on this body. 00:06:36.140 --> 00:06:39.980 align:middle line:84% Yeah, they got Tuesdays With Morrie. 00:06:39.980 --> 00:06:42.560 align:middle line:90% I got Thursdays with Charleen. 00:06:42.560 --> 00:06:44.600 align:middle line:90% Don't you see how we is we? 00:06:44.600 --> 00:06:47.980 align:middle line:84% Together picking the lock of history. 00:06:47.980 --> 00:06:51.040 align:middle line:84% Come, I want to show you something. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:55.330 align:middle line:84% Did you know Yayoi Kusama makes poems too? 00:06:55.330 --> 00:06:59.050 align:middle line:84% But that isn't what we're here to see. 00:06:59.050 --> 00:07:03.620 align:middle line:90% There, she's painting now. 00:07:03.620 --> 00:07:07.140 align:middle line:84% You might think those are just dots, 00:07:07.140 --> 00:07:10.770 align:middle line:84% but she's transforming every trauma. 00:07:10.770 --> 00:07:14.460 align:middle line:84% Now let's take a walk with me and my friend, Tacumeh. 00:07:14.460 --> 00:07:17.100 align:middle line:84% He's telling me about his grandma, 00:07:17.100 --> 00:07:19.440 align:middle line:84% and wants to know how to get published 00:07:19.440 --> 00:07:22.500 align:middle line:84% before the conversation takes a turn. 00:07:22.500 --> 00:07:27.160 align:middle line:84% He says Egyptians are only Black when it's convenient. 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:33.570 align:middle line:84% And I don't say anything because I know where his Black ends 00:07:33.570 --> 00:07:35.490 align:middle line:90% and mine begins. 00:07:35.490 --> 00:07:38.820 align:middle line:84% It was his now wife in our senior seminar 00:07:38.820 --> 00:07:43.550 align:middle line:84% who tried to tell me, Egypt isn't a part of Africa. 00:07:43.550 --> 00:07:46.310 align:middle line:84% I'm from the part of Egypt you never see. 00:07:46.310 --> 00:07:48.060 align:middle line:90% You can't fool me. 00:07:48.060 --> 00:07:50.780 align:middle line:84% Besides, I hate when we colonize ourselves. 00:07:50.780 --> 00:07:52.910 align:middle line:84% Like you all wasn't looking while they 00:07:52.910 --> 00:07:56.510 align:middle line:84% looted and whitewashed my country's history with one hand 00:07:56.510 --> 00:07:59.300 align:middle line:84% and moved the plantations with the other. 00:07:59.300 --> 00:08:03.200 align:middle line:84% Like you don't know why you love that one zero zero 00:08:03.200 --> 00:08:07.640 align:middle line:90% E-G-Y-P-T-I-A-N cotton so much. 00:08:07.640 --> 00:08:11.390 align:middle line:84% I'm still wondering why it makes me so uncomfortable 00:08:11.390 --> 00:08:13.700 align:middle line:84% to tell the truth and stand up for myself. 00:08:13.700 --> 00:08:18.080 align:middle line:84% And then I remember, oh, it's because 99.9% of you 00:08:18.080 --> 00:08:21.310 align:middle line:84% taught me how to gaslight myself. 00:08:21.310 --> 00:08:26.440 align:middle line:84% My sister Ounie calls to ask about a strange word used 00:08:26.440 --> 00:08:28.690 align:middle line:90% in a recent review of her book. 00:08:28.690 --> 00:08:34.260 align:middle line:84% She says denialism, and I hear denihilism. 00:08:34.260 --> 00:08:38.250 align:middle line:84% Sonically unsound, but etymologically correct. 00:08:38.250 --> 00:08:40.590 align:middle line:84% I seek to denihilate everything that 00:08:40.590 --> 00:08:45.720 align:middle line:84% would attempt to annihilate me, the many of me. 00:08:45.720 --> 00:08:48.300 align:middle line:84% And we never have to lift a finger 00:08:48.300 --> 00:08:53.790 align:middle line:84% to deny your own mediocrity and lack of competence 00:08:53.790 --> 00:08:57.340 align:middle line:90% will be your end. 00:08:57.340 --> 00:09:00.970 align:middle line:90% 858-72020. 00:09:00.970 --> 00:09:07.930 align:middle line:84% I am alive and listening to capitalism's last scream. 00:09:07.930 --> 00:09:13.510 align:middle line:84% And how many days on Kawara say, I am alive. 00:09:13.510 --> 00:09:17.890 align:middle line:84% My anger has been recorded for your quality assurance 00:09:17.890 --> 00:09:22.040 align:middle line:90% in minor and major key. 00:09:22.040 --> 00:09:26.750 align:middle line:84% I was a hidden treasure and I wished to be known. 00:09:26.750 --> 00:09:30.920 align:middle line:84% I created creation so I could be known. 00:09:30.920 --> 00:09:32.130 align:middle line:90% Are we there yet? 00:09:32.130 --> 00:09:34.620 align:middle line:90% At your progress? 00:09:34.620 --> 00:09:38.730 align:middle line:84% How they killing us but TP still here? 00:09:38.730 --> 00:09:41.790 align:middle line:90% Predator in chief. 00:09:41.790 --> 00:09:44.880 align:middle line:90% Benefit of the doubt? haa. 00:09:44.880 --> 00:09:47.730 align:middle line:90% That's hope by another name. 00:09:47.730 --> 00:09:50.550 align:middle line:84% Have I finally written the national narrative 00:09:50.550 --> 00:09:56.490 align:middle line:84% that makes it possible for you to reckon with me? 00:09:56.490 --> 00:10:00.300 align:middle line:84% This, that precog post verbal speak. 00:10:00.300 --> 00:10:04.190 align:middle line:84% Did you get the extra transmission yet? 00:10:04.190 --> 00:10:08.450 align:middle line:84% The poet knows what's good, but has a hard time living it. 00:10:08.450 --> 00:10:13.640 align:middle line:84% Yeah, I came in riding high on a hot blooded thoroughbred 00:10:13.640 --> 00:10:14.780 align:middle line:90% Trojan horse. 00:10:14.780 --> 00:10:18.080 align:middle line:84% It is Black or Arab, depending on whose house 00:10:18.080 --> 00:10:20.930 align:middle line:90% we roll in or on. 00:10:20.930 --> 00:10:25.150 align:middle line:84% Soon you will wake up in Palestine. 00:10:25.150 --> 00:10:29.560 align:middle line:84% You know why they put the children in cages? 00:10:29.560 --> 00:10:32.730 align:middle line:90% Because they know we can fly. 00:10:32.730 --> 00:10:36.820 align:middle line:84% Same reason why every passport got wings on it. 00:10:36.820 --> 00:10:40.500 align:middle line:84% That's why I don't like when they hold mine for too long. 00:10:40.500 --> 00:10:43.200 align:middle line:84% And the body is just an envelope. 00:10:43.200 --> 00:10:46.590 align:middle line:84% Must be why I keep having the same dream about forgetting 00:10:46.590 --> 00:10:48.540 align:middle line:90% the stamps. 00:10:48.540 --> 00:10:52.800 align:middle line:84% I grew in your condensation and your condescension. 00:10:52.800 --> 00:10:57.480 align:middle line:84% I cumulus, I circumference, and radius you. 00:10:57.480 --> 00:11:01.830 align:middle line:84% I fractal, I dalia, I dunyah, I abstract, 00:11:01.830 --> 00:11:05.790 align:middle line:84% I conceptual my coming out story. 00:11:05.790 --> 00:11:11.010 align:middle line:84% No one, absolutely no one in the art supply store-- 00:11:11.010 --> 00:11:17.880 align:middle line:84% art store employee, hi, is there anything I can help you with? 00:11:17.880 --> 00:11:20.820 align:middle line:84% I was expecting that question the way 00:11:20.820 --> 00:11:23.310 align:middle line:84% I'm feeling up all these brushes. 00:11:23.310 --> 00:11:27.120 align:middle line:90% Employee-- shocked expression. 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:31.590 align:middle line:84% No, it's just that we're closing soon. 00:11:31.590 --> 00:11:36.360 align:middle line:84% I'm learning now about color to blend instead of mute. 00:11:36.360 --> 00:11:39.090 align:middle line:84% You can clean your brush, but every bristle 00:11:39.090 --> 00:11:41.740 align:middle line:90% has the memory of pigment. 00:11:41.740 --> 00:11:45.040 align:middle line:84% Got two families, given and chosen, 00:11:45.040 --> 00:11:47.230 align:middle line:90% our last name very long. 00:11:47.230 --> 00:11:50.440 align:middle line:84% This, I will also translate for you. 00:11:50.440 --> 00:11:53.620 align:middle line:84% We, who are blessed and highly favored. 00:11:53.620 --> 00:11:56.290 align:middle line:90% We, whom you have yet to see. 00:11:56.290 --> 00:11:58.880 align:middle line:90% We, who find each other. 00:11:58.880 --> 00:12:00.445 align:middle line:90% Thank you for letting me be. 00:12:00.445 --> 00:12:03.810 align:middle line:90% 00:12:03.810 --> 00:12:07.950 align:middle line:84% Now I call my niece, say, knock, knock. 00:12:07.950 --> 00:12:09.060 align:middle line:90% Bok, Bok. 00:12:09.060 --> 00:12:12.130 align:middle line:90% What did the cow cat say? 00:12:12.130 --> 00:12:15.310 align:middle line:90% Mooo yowww. 00:12:15.310 --> 00:12:19.600 align:middle line:84% Ring, ring, calling from the matrix, pick up the arabophone. 00:12:19.600 --> 00:12:21.850 align:middle line:84% And oops, sorry to everyone who accused me 00:12:21.850 --> 00:12:25.570 align:middle line:84% of taking a queer space before this. 00:12:25.570 --> 00:12:27.640 align:middle line:90% I didn't know it was delimited. 00:12:27.640 --> 00:12:32.230 align:middle line:84% We love the poets, but shame the conditions. 00:12:32.230 --> 00:12:35.990 align:middle line:84% Our saving grace said, when they go low, 00:12:35.990 --> 00:12:40.540 align:middle line:84% we go high, because that's the way the Nile flow. 00:12:40.540 --> 00:12:42.950 align:middle line:90% Now I hear Jose say-- 00:12:42.950 --> 00:12:44.440 align:middle line:90% [ALARM RINGING] 00:12:44.440 --> 00:12:46.960 align:middle line:84% Oh, I didn't realize that was going to be loud. 00:12:46.960 --> 00:12:50.230 align:middle line:84% Now I hear José say, you wild for this one. 00:12:50.230 --> 00:12:53.300 align:middle line:90% I wile and wild. 00:12:53.300 --> 00:12:55.550 align:middle line:84% When you teach this poem, tell the kids 00:12:55.550 --> 00:12:57.860 align:middle line:90% I wrote it in Avatar state. 00:12:57.860 --> 00:13:00.170 align:middle line:90% I astral, I last. 00:13:00.170 --> 00:13:04.190 align:middle line:84% No DNA test can qualify me, which is to say, 00:13:04.190 --> 00:13:07.850 align:middle line:84% you will never ever modern standardize me. 00:13:07.850 --> 00:13:14.560 align:middle line:84% Now I ask, who will surveillve in America? 00:13:14.560 --> 00:13:18.190 align:middle line:90% Who will surveillve in America? 00:13:18.190 --> 00:13:21.780 align:middle line:90% Who will surveillve in America? 00:13:21.780 --> 00:13:25.340 align:middle line:90% Who will surveillve in America? 00:13:25.340 --> 00:13:29.560 align:middle line:90% Who will surveillve in America? 00:13:29.560 --> 00:13:32.350 align:middle line:90% Who will surveillve in America? 00:13:32.350 --> 00:13:35.010 align:middle line:90% 00:13:35.010 --> 00:13:36.750 align:middle line:90% Who will surveillve in America? 00:13:36.750 --> 00:13:40.200 align:middle line:90% 00:13:40.200 --> 00:13:42.600 align:middle line:90% Who will surveillve in America? 00:13:42.600 --> 00:13:45.920 align:middle line:90% 00:13:45.920 --> 00:13:48.140 align:middle line:90% Who's surveillving in America? 00:13:48.140 --> 00:13:50.990 align:middle line:90% Who will surveillve in America? 00:13:50.990 --> 00:13:52.490 align:middle line:90% Who real? 00:13:52.490 --> 00:13:54.940 align:middle line:90% Who free? 00:13:54.940 --> 00:13:57.240 align:middle line:90% Who real? 00:13:57.240 --> 00:13:59.490 align:middle line:90% Who free? 00:13:59.490 --> 00:14:01.350 align:middle line:90% Who real? 00:14:01.350 --> 00:14:03.570 align:middle line:90% Who free? 00:14:03.570 --> 00:14:05.130 align:middle line:90% Who real? 00:14:05.130 --> 00:14:06.600 align:middle line:90% Who free? 00:14:06.600 --> 00:14:08.160 align:middle line:90% Who real? 00:14:08.160 --> 00:14:10.010 align:middle line:90% Who free?