WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.840 align:middle line:90% All right. 00:00:00.840 --> 00:00:04.890 align:middle line:84% John, do you want to close us out with a final poem? 00:00:04.890 --> 00:00:08.250 align:middle line:84% And then I may have one last question for all of you 00:00:08.250 --> 00:00:11.270 align:middle line:90% before we close the circle. 00:00:11.270 --> 00:00:13.940 align:middle line:90% It sounds good. 00:00:13.940 --> 00:00:17.160 align:middle line:84% Well, because I took up so much time with my own poem, 00:00:17.160 --> 00:00:18.830 align:middle line:84% and because Hanif has opened the door 00:00:18.830 --> 00:00:21.530 align:middle line:84% and gave me permission to do this, I will end. 00:00:21.530 --> 00:00:24.410 align:middle line:90% But I'll end with some OPP. 00:00:24.410 --> 00:00:30.640 align:middle line:84% I'll end with a poem by Etheridge Knight. 00:00:30.640 --> 00:00:32.950 align:middle line:90% Oh, yeah. 00:00:32.950 --> 00:00:36.460 align:middle line:84% When we think of prison and poetry, 00:00:36.460 --> 00:00:40.690 align:middle line:84% his name has to be in the conversation. 00:00:40.690 --> 00:00:43.630 align:middle line:84% In many ways, he's the patron saint to a lot of us, 00:00:43.630 --> 00:00:46.300 align:middle line:84% but a lot of the people who are doing this kind of work 00:00:46.300 --> 00:00:48.500 align:middle line:90% and thinking about these things. 00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:50.980 align:middle line:84% So I'm going to read a poem of his called 00:00:50.980 --> 00:00:52.360 align:middle line:90% "For Freckle-Faced Gerald." 00:00:52.360 --> 00:00:56.080 align:middle line:90% 00:00:56.080 --> 00:00:58.180 align:middle line:90% Now you take ol Rufus. 00:00:58.180 --> 00:01:02.080 align:middle line:84% He beat drums, was free and funky under the arms, 00:01:02.080 --> 00:01:04.360 align:middle line:84% fucked white girls, jumped off a bridge, 00:01:04.360 --> 00:01:06.640 align:middle line:84% and thought nothing of the sacrilege. 00:01:06.640 --> 00:01:10.740 align:middle line:84% He copped out, and he was over 21. 00:01:10.740 --> 00:01:11.910 align:middle line:90% Take Gerald. 00:01:11.910 --> 00:01:16.260 align:middle line:84% 16 years hadn't even done a good job on his voice. 00:01:16.260 --> 00:01:19.050 align:middle line:84% He didn't even know how to talk tough 00:01:19.050 --> 00:01:22.110 align:middle line:84% or how to hide the glow of life before he 00:01:22.110 --> 00:01:27.150 align:middle line:84% was thrown in as "pigmeat" for the buzzards to eat. 00:01:27.150 --> 00:01:31.800 align:middle line:84% Gerald, who had no memory or hope of copper hot lips, 00:01:31.800 --> 00:01:36.090 align:middle line:84% or firm up thrusting thighs to reinforce his flow, 00:01:36.090 --> 00:01:39.450 align:middle line:84% let tall walls and buzzards change the course of his river 00:01:39.450 --> 00:01:41.610 align:middle line:90% from south to north. 00:01:41.610 --> 00:01:45.240 align:middle line:84% No safety in numbers, like back on the block. 00:01:45.240 --> 00:01:46.410 align:middle line:90% Two's aplenty. 00:01:46.410 --> 00:01:47.190 align:middle line:90% Three? 00:01:47.190 --> 00:01:48.660 align:middle line:90% Definitely not. 00:01:48.660 --> 00:01:49.380 align:middle line:90% Four? 00:01:49.380 --> 00:01:50.700 align:middle line:90% You're all Muslims. 00:01:50.700 --> 00:01:51.360 align:middle line:90% Five? 00:01:51.360 --> 00:01:53.190 align:middle line:90% You were planning a race riot. 00:01:53.190 --> 00:01:57.390 align:middle line:84% Plus, Gerald could never quite win with his precise speech 00:01:57.390 --> 00:02:03.080 align:middle line:84% and innocent grin, the trust and fists of the young Black cats. 00:02:03.080 --> 00:02:07.460 align:middle line:84% Gerald, sun-kissed 10,000 times on the nose and cheeks, 00:02:07.460 --> 00:02:10.039 align:middle line:84% didn't stand a chance, didn't even 00:02:10.039 --> 00:02:12.620 align:middle line:84% know that the loss of his balls had 00:02:12.620 --> 00:02:17.540 align:middle line:84% been plotted years in advance by wiser and bigger buzzards 00:02:17.540 --> 00:02:23.720 align:middle line:84% than those who now hover above his track and at night lights 00:02:23.720 --> 00:02:24.590 align:middle line:90% upon his back. 00:02:24.590 --> 00:02:27.820 align:middle line:90% 00:02:27.820 --> 00:02:29.110 align:middle line:90% Thank you, John. 00:02:29.110 --> 00:02:33.550 align:middle line:84% That was beau-- Etheridge Knight is also like one of those poets 00:02:33.550 --> 00:02:40.240 align:middle line:84% that I think really opened personally my eyes as a poet 00:02:40.240 --> 00:02:44.590 align:middle line:84% to, oh, these are all the people that I know in my neighborhood, 00:02:44.590 --> 00:02:47.680 align:middle line:84% and you can write about them, and that you could write about 00:02:47.680 --> 00:02:52.450 align:middle line:84% prison, and you could do it in a way where it's not-- 00:02:52.450 --> 00:02:54.470 align:middle line:84% it doesn't become like a spectacle. 00:02:54.470 --> 00:02:55.360 align:middle line:90% Right. 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:57.410 align:middle line:84% It's like a real story, a real human story-- 00:02:57.410 --> 00:02:57.910 align:middle line:90% Absolutely. 00:02:57.910 --> 00:03:02.070 align:middle line:84% --like a visualization of what happens. 00:03:02.070 --> 00:03:06.460 align:middle line:84% I think we're going to go ahead and close for tonight there. 00:03:06.460 --> 00:03:08.010 align:middle line:84% And I just want to thank everyone 00:03:08.010 --> 00:03:10.620 align:middle line:84% who is tuning in to watch this, and I 00:03:10.620 --> 00:03:13.170 align:middle line:84% want to thank the poets for being 00:03:13.170 --> 00:03:16.290 align:middle line:84% so present not only in the creation of the work, 00:03:16.290 --> 00:03:18.750 align:middle line:84% but also in the reading of the work and their attention 00:03:18.750 --> 00:03:22.450 align:middle line:84% to the issue of the carceral state. 00:03:22.450 --> 00:03:24.980 align:middle line:90% So thank you everyone. 00:03:24.980 --> 00:03:29.000 align:middle line:90%