WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.280 align:middle line:90% 00:00:05.280 --> 00:00:11.010 align:middle line:84% So this next poem takes its title 00:00:11.010 --> 00:00:16.890 align:middle line:84% from a classic Bruce Lee movie called "Enter the Dragon." 00:00:16.890 --> 00:00:18.700 align:middle line:90% Anybody know the movie? 00:00:18.700 --> 00:00:19.200 align:middle line:90% OK. 00:00:19.200 --> 00:00:21.283 align:middle line:84% If you don't know the movie, that's your homework, 00:00:21.283 --> 00:00:23.850 align:middle line:90% you have to go watch it. 00:00:23.850 --> 00:00:28.770 align:middle line:84% So the movie is a Bruce Lee flick, 00:00:28.770 --> 00:00:31.980 align:middle line:84% but there was also a martial artist 00:00:31.980 --> 00:00:35.710 align:middle line:84% by the name of Jim Kelly in the movie. 00:00:35.710 --> 00:00:40.330 align:middle line:84% Now in the '70s, Jim Kelly was really, really important role 00:00:40.330 --> 00:00:41.930 align:middle line:90% model for a lot of us. 00:00:41.930 --> 00:00:46.450 align:middle line:84% We didn't really see a lot of strong figures on screen. 00:00:46.450 --> 00:00:48.670 align:middle line:84% And Jim Kelly was this beautiful man, 00:00:48.670 --> 00:00:51.760 align:middle line:84% perfectly round Afro, karate guy. 00:00:51.760 --> 00:00:56.110 align:middle line:84% And there's a scene in the movie where he's-- 00:00:56.110 --> 00:00:58.610 align:middle line:84% I think he's either walking down the street or he's driving, 00:00:58.610 --> 00:00:59.120 align:middle line:90% I can't remember. 00:00:59.120 --> 00:01:00.550 align:middle line:84% But he gets accosted by these police. 00:01:00.550 --> 00:01:01.925 align:middle line:84% These are crooked police that are 00:01:01.925 --> 00:01:03.610 align:middle line:90% on the pay from some henchmen. 00:01:03.610 --> 00:01:07.340 align:middle line:84% Or they're henchmen of a big mafia boss or something. 00:01:07.340 --> 00:01:11.320 align:middle line:84% And so these police officers surround Jim Kelly, 00:01:11.320 --> 00:01:13.570 align:middle line:84% and they're going to-- they got their nightsticks out, 00:01:13.570 --> 00:01:17.230 align:middle line:84% they're going to do them like they do. 00:01:17.230 --> 00:01:19.090 align:middle line:90% But it's the movies. 00:01:19.090 --> 00:01:22.540 align:middle line:84% He's a karate man, so you know what happens. 00:01:22.540 --> 00:01:24.968 align:middle line:84% He beats-- he beats all their asses, 00:01:24.968 --> 00:01:27.010 align:middle line:84% and then he jumps into one of the police cruisers 00:01:27.010 --> 00:01:28.180 align:middle line:90% and drives off. 00:01:28.180 --> 00:01:29.980 align:middle line:84% And I'm 5 years old, I'm watching this 00:01:29.980 --> 00:01:32.800 align:middle line:90% and I'm like, yo, that's great. 00:01:32.800 --> 00:01:36.310 align:middle line:90% This is where the movie starts. 00:01:36.310 --> 00:01:43.480 align:middle line:84% Enter the Dragon, Los Angeles, California in 1976. 00:01:43.480 --> 00:01:49.120 align:middle line:84% "For me, the movie starts with a Black man 00:01:49.120 --> 00:01:53.470 align:middle line:84% Leaping into an orbit of badges, tiny moons 00:01:53.470 --> 00:01:58.390 align:middle line:84% Catching the sheen of his perfect black Afro. 00:01:58.390 --> 00:02:01.420 align:middle line:84% Arc kicks, karate chops, and 30 cops 00:02:01.420 --> 00:02:03.130 align:middle line:90% On their backs. 00:02:03.130 --> 00:02:05.900 align:middle line:90% It starts with the swagger, 00:02:05.900 --> 00:02:08.470 align:middle line:84% The cool lean into the leather front seats 00:02:08.470 --> 00:02:10.960 align:middle line:84% Of the black and white he takes off in. 00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:13.960 align:middle line:84% Deep hallelujahs of moviegoers drowning 00:02:13.960 --> 00:02:15.520 align:middle line:90% Out the wah wah guitar. 00:02:15.520 --> 00:02:16.420 align:middle line:90% Salt & butter 00:02:16.420 --> 00:02:18.730 align:middle line:90% High fives, 'Right on, brother.' 00:02:18.730 --> 00:02:20.170 align:middle line:90% And Daddy 00:02:20.170 --> 00:02:23.380 align:middle line:84% Glowing so bright he can light the screen 00:02:23.380 --> 00:02:26.000 align:middle line:90% All by himself. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:30.570 align:middle line:90% This is how it goes down. 00:02:30.570 --> 00:02:33.540 align:middle line:84% Friday night and my father drives us 00:02:33.540 --> 00:02:36.930 align:middle line:84% Home from the late show, two heroes 00:02:36.930 --> 00:02:40.840 align:middle line:84% Cadillacking across King Boulevard. 00:02:40.840 --> 00:02:45.040 align:middle line:84% In the car's dark cab, we jab and clutch, 00:02:45.040 --> 00:02:48.640 align:middle line:84% Jim Kelly and Bruce Lee with popcorn 00:02:48.640 --> 00:02:54.490 align:middle line:84% Breath, and almost miss the lights flashing 00:02:54.490 --> 00:02:58.370 align:middle line:90% In the cracked side mirror. 00:02:58.370 --> 00:03:00.170 align:middle line:90% Now I know what's 00:03:00.170 --> 00:03:04.510 align:middle line:84% Under the seat, but when the uniforms 00:03:04.510 --> 00:03:07.810 align:middle line:84% Approach from the rear quarter panel, 00:03:07.810 --> 00:03:11.470 align:middle line:84% When the fat one leans so far into my father's 00:03:11.470 --> 00:03:16.450 align:middle line:84% Window, I can smell his long day's work, 00:03:16.450 --> 00:03:20.500 align:middle line:84% When my father-- this John Henry of a man-- 00:03:20.500 --> 00:03:24.520 align:middle line:84% Hides his hammer, doesn't buck, tucks away 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:28.810 align:middle line:84% His baritone, license, and registration shaking as if 00:03:28.810 --> 00:03:31.390 align:middle line:84% Showing a bathroom pass to a grade school 00:03:31.390 --> 00:03:37.940 align:middle line:84% Principal, I learn the difference between cinema 00:03:37.940 --> 00:03:42.710 align:middle line:84% And city, between the movie house cheers 00:03:42.710 --> 00:03:46.775 align:middle line:84% Of old men and the silence that gets us home." 00:03:46.775 --> 00:03:51.350 align:middle line:90% 00:03:51.350 --> 00:03:51.850 align:middle line:90% Thank you. 00:03:51.850 --> 00:03:53.700 align:middle line:90% [APPLAUSE]