WEBVTT

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Some of you heard me
tell this story yesterday

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over at African-American Center.

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MLK, I guess-- is it still
called Martin Luther King?

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I didn't see that on
the building anywhere.

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Is it called that?

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Oh, OK.

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All right.

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Writers, it's all they do is
read stuff and write stuff,

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but they asked me to
read a poem yesterday.

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Well, during a reception
and I pull this one out

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from most recent chapbook
called Conjugal Visits, a phrase

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that has always fascinated me.

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And well-- and this particular
reference comes from--

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some time ago in
the 80s, when I was

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teaching at University
of California,

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Santa Cruz something
called community studies,

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which was interdisciplinary work
study thing for undergraduates.

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And there was this older
student who had four kids

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and she'd been married, she
was on her third marriage.

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And she would always tell
me that on a certain day

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in the month that she would not
be coming to class because it

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was conjugal, a visit day
at The Q as she termed it.

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This is California
of course, and she

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was talking about San Quentin.

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So I finally ask her what
it was like and she it

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got this big grin on
her face and all mellow

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and she said, oh, she says.

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I think I've got it worked
out this time she said.

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I just love it, she says.

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I go to see him and
it's like a honeymoon,

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every time I go
over there and we

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read each other the poems
we've been writing, and talk

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about books.

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We've been reading,
and we make love,

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and then we walk around the
trailer yard, holding hands.

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And we have something to eat
and we make love some more

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and it's just--
it's just marvelous.

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And then her face changed and
she stiffened and she said--

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and then when I get
back to Santa Cruz

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and I'm trying to do my studies
and take care of my kids

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and take care of business,
he can't mess with me

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because he's been
locked up in the joint.

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[LAUGHTER]

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So that became the [AUDIO OUT]
I'll make making love,

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I'll paint my toenails red.

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Reece say he got to change his
name from Maurice to Malik.

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He think I need to
change my mind too.

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Conversion, so to speak.

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I ain't no Muslim yet, I say.

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Besides, I like my name.

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Kamisha still sounds good to me.

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I'll let you play that game.

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I'd rather play with you, he
say, than trip back to the 60s.

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The 60s.

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I'm on his case.

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Then I won't do my striptease.

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This brother look
at me and laugh,

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he know I love
him bad and worse,

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he know exactly how
much loving I ain't had.

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He grabbed me by my puffed
up waist and pulled me to him

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close.

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He say, I want you in my face
or on my face, Miss Toes.

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What can I say?

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I'd lie for Reece but
I'm not quitting school.

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Four mouths to feed
not counting mine.

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Let urban studies rule.

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[LAUGHTER]

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I met him in the want ads,
we fell in love by mail.

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I say when people bring this
up: wasn't no one up for sale.

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All these Black men crammed
up in jail, all this IQ on ice

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while governments
bank presidents,

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the mafia don't think twice.

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They fly in dope
and make real sure

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they hands stay nice and clean.

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The chump change Reece
made on the street--

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What's that supposed to mean?

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For what it costs the state
to keep you locked down,

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clothed, and fed, you could
be learning Harvard stuff

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and brilliant skills, I said.

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Reece say, just kiss me one
more time, then let's get down,

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make love, then let's
devour that special meal

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I wish they'd serve more of.

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They say the third time out a
charm and I think they're right.

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My first, he was the
ace of swords, which

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didn't make him no knight.

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He gave me Zeus and Brittany.

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My second left me twins.

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This third one
ain't about no luck.

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We're honeymooners, friends.

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I go see Maurice once a month,
while moms looks after things.

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We be so glad to touch again,
I dance, he grins, he sings.

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When I get back home to my kids,
schoolwork, the coffee shop,

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ain't no way Reece
can mess with me.

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They got his ass
locked up, which--

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[LAUGHTER]

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All strangeness.

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Very odd.

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