June 19, 2020 • 36 mins
In celebration of Juneteenth 2020.
William Forchion's poetry presentation recorded at Brooks Memorial Library, Brattleboro, VT February 10, 2020.
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Starr Latronica (00:04):
I know I'm so jealous.
William's a little taller thanme just below.
So welcome.
Welcome everyone to this veryspecial evening.
Um, thank you for coming out ona, on a dismal day to be, you
know, warmed up by thisfantastic evening that we're
(00:25):
going to have tonight.
Um, nearly every day I reflecton my incredible good fortune to
live in this community.
And William fortune is one ofthose things that I reflect on
because the very first, uh,cultural event I attended
outside of the library when Imoved to Brattleboro four years
(00:47):
ago, was the loss of his oneperson show that was also, um,
directed by Peter Gould is heresomewhere.
There he is.
So, um, so I please, all of youjoin me in welcoming William
Forchion and, uh, reveling inhis form and his poetry.
William Forchion (01:15):
[inaudible] thank you.
I've been doing stand up andalmost wanted to say a joke
right there.
Alright.
So we are here for black historymonth or African American
history month, and I have adifficult time with both of
(01:37):
those, um, for, from where Istand, there is no such thing as
African-American, because I'm anAmerican.
I was born in Camden, NewJersey.
My parents were born in NewJersey.
Their parents were born inVirginia and New Jersey.
So we should be Americans.
(01:57):
And yet, for some reason I'm not, uh, and I am by choice black.
And the choice comes from if Ihave to choose what I am, I
(02:18):
choose to be all inclusive.
It doesn't pigment.
Black is the inclusion of allcolors.
And I didn't come up that one onmy own.
Um, when I was figuring out,cause as a middle elementary
schooler, the first box I had tocheck was Negro.
(02:39):
Then as I moved through school,it became Afro-American in the
early seventies.
And then there was a few otherthings I even checked the box
that said Negroid onces.
And by the time I got to middleschool I wanted figure out who I
was.
(02:57):
l,
William Forchion (03:00):
and I wanted to be that thing.
And that thing was black.
Wasn't the color black.
It was the idea of black.
I'd like to read, not from myworks, but from other works that
have helped me deal with beingan African American and dealing
(03:22):
with African American history.
We, the people of the UnitedStates in order to form a more
perfect union, establishjustice, ensure domestic
tranquility provide for thecommon defense, promote the
general wear welfare and securethe blessings of Liberty to
(03:43):
ourselves and our posterity doordain and establish this
constitution for the UnitedStates of America.
Another piece of writing when inthe course of human events, it
(04:03):
becomes necessary for one peopleto dissolve the political bands,
which have connected them withanother.
And to assume among the powersof the earth, the separate and
equal station to which the lawsof nature and nature's God
entitle them a decent respect tothe opinions of mankind requires
that they should declare thecauses, which impel them to the
(04:24):
separation.
We hold these truths to be selfevident that all men are created
equal pause.
When they wrote that they wereslave holders, they chose to
enslave people and right[inaudible] that we have the
(04:50):
right to life, Liberty and thepursuit of happiness as an
elementary school.
Or I struggled with that aswell.
And lastly, my struggles wereled to, I pledge allegiance to
the flag of the United States ofAmerica and to the Republic for
(05:10):
which it stands one nation underGod, individual, indivisible,
with Liberty and justice.
For all, I watched two of myuncles go to jail, unjustly
[inaudible] as an elementaryschooler.
(05:31):
I also chose not to put my handover my heart.
When I said the pledge ofallegiance allegiance.
I said it, but I didn't put myhand over my heart because I
didn't see justice life isn'tthat heavy.
And it doesn't have to behistory in the making one of an
(05:58):
unpublished work of mine.
Day by day, we turn the page.
Bloodshed continues with far toolittle outrage.
Are you combatant?
Are you witnessed or standard bythe difference illuminates
whether you are with or againstFAU or ally?
I lack the ability to stand byquietly for the assaults,
(06:20):
whether implicit or outright orignorance do impact me.
History does not happenaccidentally.
It is crafted.
It is coerced.
It has grown intentionally inthis movement.
We may sit attentive and unawareyet in the future.
This is the history that we willshare.
(06:43):
Let us look each other in theeye and see mr.
Ms.
Mrs.
Mx.
For, we are the corrections forhistory's fix[inaudible] for a
(07:04):
long time.
I didn't have words.
I didn't know how to use thewords.
And I was all too oftenfrightened by the words I heard
what people said to each other,and I thought people were just
unkind to each other and theywere allowed to be unkind to
each other.
And so I sat and I watchedquietly and I learned how I want
(07:31):
it to be in the world.
And I couldn't see myself as anactivist.
I couldn't see myself marchingwith a banner or a picket sign.
And I didn't know how to be anactivist that could have a
purpose and a meaning until Ifound my words and the words
(07:56):
they come.
Sometimes they don't even makesense to me and I'll read them
and they'll make me tear up.
And I was one of my mentors andteachers and friends.
One said, read it again.
If it resonates with you again,it's true.
Read it again.
(08:17):
And if it resonates with youagain, it's true.
And that teacher, that mentor,that friend encouraged me to
speak my truth, not just writeit down.
And that's why I'm here today.
No two people of color sharesthe same experience.
(08:40):
So black history to me is notthe same as it is to Denzel
Washington.
Black history to me is not thesame as it is to my brother or
my father or my mother, becausewe are each living our own.
We're each dealing with our ownthings.
Now, there are certain thingsthat are common and I'll get to
(09:01):
some of those a little later.
And in waking up to thispresence, I also have to be the
Jew, say goodbye more than thedeath of that kid that I once
was, who was frightened, whodidn't know what to say, who was
(09:21):
tired of listening and wanted tosay something.
And yet another unposed I'm apublished poem.
This is good morning for loved,lost, and lives.
Expired unexpectedly too soonfor ignorance that conquered
(09:41):
innocence and contributed togrowth.
This is the wake up call themoment to sleep in the now and
not question how everythingfalls together.
(10:04):
You don't have to hold back.
And as we sit here in silence,this one speaks right to that
silence.
The silence makes me cry insidefor an answer.
I grasped when I tried toconfide and found myself alone,
(10:25):
the God I sought nowhere nearand human comfort pushed away in
fear.
The cathedral is empty withhope.
My tears may start this heartbeating for now.
The silence makes me cry inside.
(10:50):
That's all I smile at thetension, raise their, uh, of
that silence and what that isbecause in that silence, I, I
hear God.
(11:11):
I hear the process ofempowerment.
I hear the process of deepthought change.
I could rally and rail against alot of things.
(11:33):
As I talk about black historyand African American history.
And the next poem I have isentitled number one, two,(274)
207-3018.
And it is in response to, Iheard a radio thing on the radio
(11:53):
about a woman who was sentencedto 15 years in prison for
killing her abuser.
And there was a record in thehistory that went with that as
well.
They'd been to court multipletimes and yet nothing was done.
And she was sentenced 15 yearsfor killing her abuser.
[inaudible] and I had to pullover.
(12:15):
When I heard that it was drivingin the car, I pulled over and I
started writing this and it grewfrom what I had had to write
down at the side of the road,into the piece that's here.
Um, I was born to be aprostitute.
I knew this was who I would bewhen grandma walked 10 miles to
(12:35):
clean houses, seven days a week,I knew this is who I would be
when great grandma died.
And the family inherited theburden of putting her in the
ground and putting food on thetable.
I knew this is who I would bewhen my body started to change.
And the tickle fights got messy.
The boys started acting likemen.
(13:07):
[inaudible].
The boys started acting like menand the men started treating me
like fruit.
I knew this is who I would bewhen the men bruised my flesh.
And it was my fault for beingtoo fine, too cute.
I knew this is who I would bewhen I first heard the darker,
the fruit, the sweet of thejuice.
I knew this is who I would bewhen I cried for help.
(13:30):
And they cleaned me up.
So my herders could have secondhelpings.
I knew this is who I would bewhen I cried for help.
And I was reassured that love islike that.
Sometimes I knew this is who Iwould be when I shot the man who
hurt me and no one cared why,and I was sentenced to die.
(13:54):
And no one could see that I wasbroken, swept into the corner
with no words, spoken thecoffee, staying on the coffee
table, a nuisance easily coveredwith a coaster.
I was born to be a prostitutefor your pleasure.
Grandma was born with nothingand died with less.
The least I can do is lift mydress and maybe I can leave my
(14:15):
baby something to forget mewith.
I was born to be a prostitutewhen grandma walked 10 miles
home to cook and clean for herown when grandma died and there
was no one left to see howbrilliant my mind is when the
(14:43):
men started touching me.
And I liked that someone couldsee me when I stopped hearing
the word and no one seemed tomiss it.
I was born to be a prostitute.
When he hit me, he hit me.
He hit me.
(15:04):
When I made him stop, they gaveme this number.
It sure does seem like the worldneeds a prostitute.
[inaudible] I don't know wherethat one came from, but it
(15:25):
needed to come out.
[inaudible] there are manywonderful things about black
history that I like to carry onas well.
One is Cowboys.
(15:49):
The majority of Cowboys are howhands in the West were black,
freed slaves who went to wherethere was open air.
There was free range.
And the term cowboy was aderogatory term because the
people who own the ranches wereranchers.
The people who work them whowere fair skin were cattle hands
(16:10):
.
The people of color wereCowboys.
And you had to earn your, keep.
The Cowboys worked so hard thatthe cattle hands chose to call
themselves Cowboys.
And it stuck one of the mostfamous Cowboys, not most famous,
(16:33):
but very famous cowboy billPickett.
I share two of his names, a wasknown for bulldogging.
And when he first started, hewould grabbed the bull by the
face, lift up on the lips, turnit inside out and flip it over.
It was called bill dogging.
At first later, it becamebulldogging and still called
(16:54):
bulldog.
And the Negro nod many times ingentlemen needs see each other
on the street.
They give the nod.
Blacks do it quite often becauseit was assigned at a time when
we could only be boy, wecouldn't be men.
(17:16):
We could acknowledge each otheras men anywhere.
No one could stop us.
You may not be able to shakehands or touch, but I can see
you from anywhere and give you anod that says, I see you that
nod to me now is also likesaying Ms.
Day.
And I give it to everyone.
(17:36):
It's not just for black men anylonger for me.
It's for everyone.
I see.
I see the God in you.
There are still dark parts ofthe history.
We are at a time right now,where we're in a global crisis.
(17:57):
And we're trying to figure outhow to save this planet.
We're cutting back on plastics,recycling.
And as a child, when I goshopping, one of the things that
we were always told was get areceipt and get a bag, get a
receipt and get a bag.
Seems simple enough why this isa black child.
(18:21):
If you were in a store and youhad an item that you were
walking out with, and you didn'thave the receipt, you stole it
because when you paid for it,you got a receipt and they put
it in a bag.
The bags were behind thecounter.
There was no way that I couldput something in a bag unless it
was purchased.
And I heard this over and overagain.
(18:41):
My cousins who lived in the citythat did this as well.
One time my cousin came to visitand she went to the corner
store, the corner store, wecalled it Italian Angelos.
The family was extremely racist.
My cousin went in and purchasedsomething from my parents.
She came running, home cryingbecause all she had was the
(19:04):
change.
She didn't get a bag and she didhave the receipt, but they told
her she stole it and theygrabbed it from her and kicked
her out the store.
My mother went back with thereceipt and with the change and
demanded her merchandise[inaudible] to this day, it is
(19:32):
hard for me to say no to a bag.
But to this day, I speak toeveryone on my way in the store,
on my way out of the store,because they know if you know
me, I'm not stealing from you.
And if you think I stole fromyou, I'll give it back and we'll
(19:53):
find a way to make it right.
[inaudible] my next poems are atrilogy on black history.
The first one is called.
I am black history from Africa,America spanning the world.
(20:15):
Quite possibly my DNA, struggledto survive to make me my
existence is a Testament tosurvival fitness.
My life is to nurture the futureand bear witness the past.
My name is the name of propertythey gave my heritage.
My lineage is that of a slave.
Yes.
Slave property, harsh words tohear great.
(20:39):
Granddad was born and slaved.
Three generations too.
Near granddad, laid bricks,played music and sang hope from
grandma's illiterate lips.
I sprang it.
Lineage broken in Georgia orCarolina, South passed on and on
by word of mouth.
The legacy must pass through meto give my children power for
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their mamas line.
Stopped off, stepped off theMayflower in both.
I must help them see honor forthe strength and the pride that
made me must endure listeningand teaching and learning.
I press on without blamelearning from the past about my
past, I move on without shameeach new day, new creation.
(21:27):
I write the story.
One of survival, renewalreflection, doggedly pushing
toward glory.
I am black yesterday.
I am black.
Now I am black history.
(21:49):
[inaudible] the second one.
This is young lady, and it'ssomewhat speaks to a stereotype
that I have really worked hardto avoid to steer clear of.
And that is of the black studveer aisle, strong, healthy
worth breeding.
(22:11):
Sure.
I couldn't help it.
Multiple baby mamas, childreneverywhere.
It's not me.
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And it's a choice for me to notbe that person.
This next poem is called younglady, young lady.
I look you in the eye.
Not because you are the objectof my desire.
It is not that you set my heart.
My mind, my loin on fire.
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I nod to you.
It is my bow to the honor youare born with, but may not know
right now.
It is not the curve of your hipor the pucker of your lip.
That catches my eye.
It is the queen in you.
The hope that one day you willbe president the hope that one
day you will know your power.
(23:15):
Young lady.
I look you in the eye and see adaughter, a sister, a mother, a
grandmother, and hope you do notknow their struggle.
Young lady.
My hope that should you choose.
So in life you accomplish morethan just life.
You turn from me and laugh.
You think your underwire acceptsit.
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Lights my fire.
That your hip makes myheartbeat.
Dip.
Young lady.
I look you in the eye and sendvia spiritual wifi, honor.
Courage, strength, and love for,with this.
The girl you are will become thelady I see.
Okay.
(24:03):
[inaudible] and the third ofthis is called young black man.
I wave at you.
Not because we are friends,although we may be one day,
because not very long ago, youwere unseen.
Not very long ago.
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You could not grow to be a man.
You could only be a boy, youngblack man.
I nod to you because maybe yourfather or your father's father
was only worth the work he coulddo.
And you are worth my time.
Young black, man, you see me andlaugh.
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You see my nod and don'tunderstand, may you never know.
I wave at me and you, the methat did not know hate the me
that did not know injustice.
The me that did not know I wasnot a leading man.
The men, the me that did notknow what was ahead.
(25:07):
Young black man, one day youwill wave at me when you wave.
I hope you wave at you.
You see inside of me[inaudible]I had a heavy stuff.
(25:36):
It has a heavy history.
Uh, and the next part I have isactually I have quite a few
poems that were inspired by theturmoil that we had Trayvon
Martin.
Uh, yeah.
Um, and it, but it goes back,uh, cause I was young and I
(25:58):
happened to find, um, a jetmagazine.
It's a little littlepublication.
And in that magazine there werepictures of Emmett till, and it
was the[inaudible].
(26:28):
That was eight year old.
Me opening up that jet magazineagain.
And seeing those things, Ididn't know it was human.
I didn't know that was a person.
Um, what I saw and when I did ithurt.
Um, and yet it continues.
It continues in so manydifferent ways.
(26:48):
Uh, and this next poem wasactually not really inspired by
that.
It was actually inspired by thefact that Amatil was somebody's
son, Trayvon Martin wassomebody's son.
Um, and these are kids whodidn't get to grow up.
Maybe they were the history, theanswer to the change that we
need in the world.
(27:10):
And that's why it's delayedbecause we're waiting for the
next one.
This poem was called too soon.
You entered this world right ontime, just when we needed.
And we did not know it.
You were feisty and wonderful.
And funny many days you testedme.
(27:32):
You challenged my resolve.
You lit up more rooms than youdarkened.
The only rooms you darkened werethe ones where you hit the
switch.
I expected to see your smileuntil my vision faded.
I anticipated the day when yourwisdom would exceed my own.
I never expected the sorrow ofmissing you.
Whatever strike the past fewwords I've spoken.
(27:58):
I will speak you back into thisroom.
And hopefully men in thefractures of my broken heart,
you entered this world right ontime.
You left this world far too soonfor those of, you know, Pooja
(28:26):
Meyer just came to my mind.
And that's why I struggled atthe end, uh, too soon.
Take a moment.
(28:47):
Yes.
To breathe for some strangereason, I put it on the future.
Looks bright.
The future starts today.
That's hope short poem I've everwritten.
I think a year ago, I guess itwas, I started a project writing
(29:15):
a poem a day and I thought I'dget through a few months.
And a few months led into a fewmore months.
And then I got going and Ifigured I'd continue for the
duration of a year.
See if I can get through 365poems.
And I managed to get through 365days of foam.
Sometimes it was difficult.
Um, some times it was reallyeasy and I would write three or
(29:37):
four in the morning and try andstack them up.
But then the next day I'd havethree or more that I'd stack up.
And, and it was, it was awonderful exercise.
And it also, it, it was, uh, anamazing can say fun struggle,
um, to, to go through with that.
Uh, and some of it, it broughtme back to the lightness of
(30:03):
being able to write, being ableto conjure, uh, just about
anything through writing andthen putting that, putting that
into the world and seeing whathappens watching what magic has
made.
And this is one of the poemsfrom a poem a day within the
dream, tangible weaves withintangible substance becomes vapor
(30:24):
and vapor becomes vegetable.
Guardians of hope, laugh anddangerous sleeps night turns
into pudding and day becomes abanquet feast waking.
I am the dream, the dreamer andthe dreamt[inaudible] through
(30:47):
the work that I've done inwriting and also dealing with
myself.
There's a lot of digging deeperinto me.
What motivates me?
Who am I?
What is my foundation?
What is my root?
Where's my spirit.
And this is some of that in myPulma day writings, there was
only one me I can be.
(31:08):
I may change my clothes styleand restyle my hair or lock it
off altogether, work this job.
And not that one.
And yet who I am remains.
This is the me I am meant to be.
I know because I know me[inaudible] we are one.
(31:37):
You are neither daughter nor sonfor you are the star, the moon,
the sky, in which reality hangsdo not fight to define yourself.
You are the God.
You seek not a reflection, not ashadow.
God knows you as God.
It is time you stop pretendingto be anything and be
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everything.
The illusion of reality willmelt away.
Only after you give up onfiguring it out, the universe
will become your world.
As it always has been.
All that separates you fromanything else will cease.
You will greet everyone as God,just as you know yourself to be
(32:19):
stand down, wake up dream onreality is the illusion.
And all that is not is reality.
Breathe in peace, breathe outpeace, breathe in love and fill
all that is with love.
Not mistake, silly ending.
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That's what we need is a sillyending.
Otherwise it's just heaviness.
When you step out here without apurpose and a plan and a way of
proceeding, and I have changedmy way of activism from this
writing and started writingjokes.
(33:17):
Yes.
Yes.
Cause I figured it's a, it'sactually a really subversive
tool that I'm using.
Because when, when you telljokes, people laugh.
When people laugh, they inhaleand the exhale and you get a
whole group of people inhalingand exhaling.
It's joyful.
And it changes the way a room iswhen you have a few people that
(33:38):
are joyful and more people enterin and they become joyful and
they don't even know why.
And I can tell you what thereason why is because you have
just charged the room, all thatbreathing in and out.
It's still energy in the air andit's lingering.
And those people are walkinginto it like a FOD screen,
right?
And they're chewing it likebubble gum and they don't even
(33:59):
know it.
And so what I'm working to dothrough my art is activism.
Tell a joke or two talk deeply,tell another joke.
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We are the solution.
We are the change.
No night is going to write uphere on a white horse in shining
armor.
They will probably get hit by atruck trying, um, it's up to us.
We showed up we're here.
How are we going to do that?
We're going to each do it in ourown way.
(34:42):
Mine is through laughter andthrough poetry.
And with that, the illusion isthat reality is not what it
seems the reality is.
We haven't a clue as to where tobegin questioning reality.
The illusion is necessary tokeep our heads from turning into
(35:04):
lollipops, which stops us fromtrying to lick ourselves silly.
And that's all I have to sayabout black history.
(35:25):
Thank you very much for havingme here.
Thank you star for inviting meback and I'll keep coming back
every year till I run out ofwords.
Um, and thank you all for beinghere.
And I, I can't say it enough.
It is so wonderful to be in thiscommunity, um, to feel, and to
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know that there's a power ofpurpose and passion, um, amongst
all of us.
And, and we can look at eachother in the eye and see the
power of the passion, the God ineach of us, and honor that.
Thank you.
(36:20):
[inaudible] if you have anyquestions you may ask away,
there was also books for saleover there too, which I'll be
over to attend to in just amoment.
Bill, have you been as aMemorial for him until I have
not.
(36:42):
Let's go because I've beenreading about it.
They keep having to replace itbecause it gets shut off all the
time.
So now they've made a sign thatis so Bulletproof.
And why is that necessary?
Yes, let's go.
(37:03):
Yeah.
So you can kill two birds orfeed two birds with one handful
of CDs can just share the poemwith the woman.
(37:52):
Yes.
Sacred and sacrosanct has someof the poems, the shorter ones
they did towards the end are in,uh, a poem a day.
And I'm each of the poem of dayones.
I have two of the, uh, half of ayear.
So each quarter of poems is inone of those books and I'm
(38:15):
working on creating the, thelarge volume that's has the
whole year.
And so that hopefully will beout soonish here.
There's a comedy night.
Yes.
Yeah.
So, uh, do this thing where I'mtrying to do comedy.
No, I'm doing comedy.
(38:35):
So third, Tuesday of the night,if those of you who need a laugh
at the stone church, just stepsfrom here.
Um, third, Tuesday.
So next Tuesday, the 18th isevery month.
Yes.
Is comedy.
And I host that 7:00 PM.
We start well, 7:00 PM.
The door is open seven 30.
(38:56):
The comedy starts because it'sopen mic.
So during that half hour, peoplecan sign up.
If you want to tell a joke, youcan sign up and tell some jokes.
And it's also one of the onlyopen mics where I do give
feedback to help you improveyour joke telling as well.
(39:18):
Um, and the feedback is to helpimprove, not to cut away
anything what's working and howyou can maybe enhance that.
I have not.
Thank you for the suggestion.
(39:42):
Any other questions?
You're welcome.
Thank you.
[inaudible].
I know I'm so jealous.
William's a little taller thanme just below.
So welcome.
Welcome everyone to this veryspecial evening.
Um, thank you for coming out ona, on a dismal day to be, you
know, warmed up by thisfantastic evening that we're
(00:25):
going to have tonight.
Um, nearly every day I reflecton my incredible good fortune to
live in this community.
And William fortune is one ofthose things that I reflect on
because the very first, uh,cultural event I attended
outside of the library when Imoved to Brattleboro four years
(00:47):
ago, was the loss of his oneperson show that was also, um,
directed by Peter Gould is heresomewhere.
There he is.
So, um, so I please, all of youjoin me in welcoming William
Forchion and, uh, reveling inhis form and his poetry.
William Forchion (01:15):
[inaudible] thank you.
I've been doing stand up andalmost wanted to say a joke
right there.
Alright.
So we are here for black historymonth or African American
history month, and I have adifficult time with both of
(01:37):
those, um, for, from where Istand, there is no such thing as
African-American, because I'm anAmerican.
I was born in Camden, NewJersey.
My parents were born in NewJersey.
Their parents were born inVirginia and New Jersey.
So we should be Americans.
(01:57):
And yet, for some reason I'm not, uh, and I am by choice black.
And the choice comes from if Ihave to choose what I am, I
(02:18):
choose to be all inclusive.
It doesn't pigment.
Black is the inclusion of allcolors.
And I didn't come up that one onmy own.
Um, when I was figuring out,cause as a middle elementary
schooler, the first box I had tocheck was Negro.
(02:39):
Then as I moved through school,it became Afro-American in the
early seventies.
And then there was a few otherthings I even checked the box
that said Negroid onces.
And by the time I got to middleschool I wanted figure out who I
was.
(02:57):
l,
William Forchion (03:00):
and I wanted to be that thing.
And that thing was black.
Wasn't the color black.
It was the idea of black.
I'd like to read, not from myworks, but from other works that
have helped me deal with beingan African American and dealing
(03:22):
with African American history.
We, the people of the UnitedStates in order to form a more
perfect union, establishjustice, ensure domestic
tranquility provide for thecommon defense, promote the
general wear welfare and securethe blessings of Liberty to
(03:43):
ourselves and our posterity doordain and establish this
constitution for the UnitedStates of America.
Another piece of writing when inthe course of human events, it
(04:03):
becomes necessary for one peopleto dissolve the political bands,
which have connected them withanother.
And to assume among the powersof the earth, the separate and
equal station to which the lawsof nature and nature's God
entitle them a decent respect tothe opinions of mankind requires
that they should declare thecauses, which impel them to the
(04:24):
separation.
We hold these truths to be selfevident that all men are created
equal pause.
When they wrote that they wereslave holders, they chose to
enslave people and right[inaudible] that we have the
(04:50):
right to life, Liberty and thepursuit of happiness as an
elementary school.
Or I struggled with that aswell.
And lastly, my struggles wereled to, I pledge allegiance to
the flag of the United States ofAmerica and to the Republic for
(05:10):
which it stands one nation underGod, individual, indivisible,
with Liberty and justice.
For all, I watched two of myuncles go to jail, unjustly
[inaudible] as an elementaryschooler.
(05:31):
I also chose not to put my handover my heart.
When I said the pledge ofallegiance allegiance.
I said it, but I didn't put myhand over my heart because I
didn't see justice life isn'tthat heavy.
And it doesn't have to behistory in the making one of an
(05:58):
unpublished work of mine.
Day by day, we turn the page.
Bloodshed continues with far toolittle outrage.
Are you combatant?
Are you witnessed or standard bythe difference illuminates
whether you are with or againstFAU or ally?
I lack the ability to stand byquietly for the assaults,
(06:20):
whether implicit or outright orignorance do impact me.
History does not happenaccidentally.
It is crafted.
It is coerced.
It has grown intentionally inthis movement.
We may sit attentive and unawareyet in the future.
This is the history that we willshare.
(06:43):
Let us look each other in theeye and see mr.
Ms.
Mrs.
Mx.
For, we are the corrections forhistory's fix[inaudible] for a
(07:04):
long time.
I didn't have words.
I didn't know how to use thewords.
And I was all too oftenfrightened by the words I heard
what people said to each other,and I thought people were just
unkind to each other and theywere allowed to be unkind to
each other.
And so I sat and I watchedquietly and I learned how I want
(07:31):
it to be in the world.
And I couldn't see myself as anactivist.
I couldn't see myself marchingwith a banner or a picket sign.
And I didn't know how to be anactivist that could have a
purpose and a meaning until Ifound my words and the words
(07:56):
they come.
Sometimes they don't even makesense to me and I'll read them
and they'll make me tear up.
And I was one of my mentors andteachers and friends.
One said, read it again.
If it resonates with you again,it's true.
Read it again.
(08:17):
And if it resonates with youagain, it's true.
And that teacher, that mentor,that friend encouraged me to
speak my truth, not just writeit down.
And that's why I'm here today.
No two people of color sharesthe same experience.
(08:40):
So black history to me is notthe same as it is to Denzel
Washington.
Black history to me is not thesame as it is to my brother or
my father or my mother, becausewe are each living our own.
We're each dealing with our ownthings.
Now, there are certain thingsthat are common and I'll get to
(09:01):
some of those a little later.
And in waking up to thispresence, I also have to be the
Jew, say goodbye more than thedeath of that kid that I once
was, who was frightened, whodidn't know what to say, who was
(09:21):
tired of listening and wanted tosay something.
And yet another unposed I'm apublished poem.
This is good morning for loved,lost, and lives.
Expired unexpectedly too soonfor ignorance that conquered
(09:41):
innocence and contributed togrowth.
This is the wake up call themoment to sleep in the now and
not question how everythingfalls together.
(10:04):
You don't have to hold back.
And as we sit here in silence,this one speaks right to that
silence.
The silence makes me cry insidefor an answer.
I grasped when I tried toconfide and found myself alone,
(10:25):
the God I sought nowhere nearand human comfort pushed away in
fear.
The cathedral is empty withhope.
My tears may start this heartbeating for now.
The silence makes me cry inside.
(10:50):
That's all I smile at thetension, raise their, uh, of
that silence and what that isbecause in that silence, I, I
hear God.
(11:11):
I hear the process ofempowerment.
I hear the process of deepthought change.
I could rally and rail against alot of things.
(11:33):
As I talk about black historyand African American history.
And the next poem I have isentitled number one, two,(274)
207-3018.
And it is in response to, Iheard a radio thing on the radio
(11:53):
about a woman who was sentencedto 15 years in prison for
killing her abuser.
And there was a record in thehistory that went with that as
well.
They'd been to court multipletimes and yet nothing was done.
And she was sentenced 15 yearsfor killing her abuser.
[inaudible] and I had to pullover.
(12:15):
When I heard that it was drivingin the car, I pulled over and I
started writing this and it grewfrom what I had had to write
down at the side of the road,into the piece that's here.
Um, I was born to be aprostitute.
I knew this was who I would bewhen grandma walked 10 miles to
(12:35):
clean houses, seven days a week,I knew this is who I would be
when great grandma died.
And the family inherited theburden of putting her in the
ground and putting food on thetable.
I knew this is who I would bewhen my body started to change.
And the tickle fights got messy.
The boys started acting likemen.
(13:07):
[inaudible].
The boys started acting like menand the men started treating me
like fruit.
I knew this is who I would bewhen the men bruised my flesh.
And it was my fault for beingtoo fine, too cute.
I knew this is who I would bewhen I first heard the darker,
the fruit, the sweet of thejuice.
I knew this is who I would bewhen I cried for help.
(13:30):
And they cleaned me up.
So my herders could have secondhelpings.
I knew this is who I would bewhen I cried for help.
And I was reassured that love islike that.
Sometimes I knew this is who Iwould be when I shot the man who
hurt me and no one cared why,and I was sentenced to die.
(13:54):
And no one could see that I wasbroken, swept into the corner
with no words, spoken thecoffee, staying on the coffee
table, a nuisance easily coveredwith a coaster.
I was born to be a prostitutefor your pleasure.
Grandma was born with nothingand died with less.
The least I can do is lift mydress and maybe I can leave my
(14:15):
baby something to forget mewith.
I was born to be a prostitutewhen grandma walked 10 miles
home to cook and clean for herown when grandma died and there
was no one left to see howbrilliant my mind is when the
(14:43):
men started touching me.
And I liked that someone couldsee me when I stopped hearing
the word and no one seemed tomiss it.
I was born to be a prostitute.
When he hit me, he hit me.
He hit me.
(15:04):
When I made him stop, they gaveme this number.
It sure does seem like the worldneeds a prostitute.
[inaudible] I don't know wherethat one came from, but it
(15:25):
needed to come out.
[inaudible] there are manywonderful things about black
history that I like to carry onas well.
One is Cowboys.
(15:49):
The majority of Cowboys are howhands in the West were black,
freed slaves who went to wherethere was open air.
There was free range.
And the term cowboy was aderogatory term because the
people who own the ranches wereranchers.
The people who work them whowere fair skin were cattle hands
(16:10):
.
The people of color wereCowboys.
And you had to earn your, keep.
The Cowboys worked so hard thatthe cattle hands chose to call
themselves Cowboys.
And it stuck one of the mostfamous Cowboys, not most famous,
(16:33):
but very famous cowboy billPickett.
I share two of his names, a wasknown for bulldogging.
And when he first started, hewould grabbed the bull by the
face, lift up on the lips, turnit inside out and flip it over.
It was called bill dogging.
At first later, it becamebulldogging and still called
(16:54):
bulldog.
And the Negro nod many times ingentlemen needs see each other
on the street.
They give the nod.
Blacks do it quite often becauseit was assigned at a time when
we could only be boy, wecouldn't be men.
(17:16):
We could acknowledge each otheras men anywhere.
No one could stop us.
You may not be able to shakehands or touch, but I can see
you from anywhere and give you anod that says, I see you that
nod to me now is also likesaying Ms.
Day.
And I give it to everyone.
(17:36):
It's not just for black men anylonger for me.
It's for everyone.
I see.
I see the God in you.
There are still dark parts ofthe history.
We are at a time right now,where we're in a global crisis.
(17:57):
And we're trying to figure outhow to save this planet.
We're cutting back on plastics,recycling.
And as a child, when I goshopping, one of the things that
we were always told was get areceipt and get a bag, get a
receipt and get a bag.
Seems simple enough why this isa black child.
(18:21):
If you were in a store and youhad an item that you were
walking out with, and you didn'thave the receipt, you stole it
because when you paid for it,you got a receipt and they put
it in a bag.
The bags were behind thecounter.
There was no way that I couldput something in a bag unless it
was purchased.
And I heard this over and overagain.
(18:41):
My cousins who lived in the citythat did this as well.
One time my cousin came to visitand she went to the corner
store, the corner store, wecalled it Italian Angelos.
The family was extremely racist.
My cousin went in and purchasedsomething from my parents.
She came running, home cryingbecause all she had was the
(19:04):
change.
She didn't get a bag and she didhave the receipt, but they told
her she stole it and theygrabbed it from her and kicked
her out the store.
My mother went back with thereceipt and with the change and
demanded her merchandise[inaudible] to this day, it is
(19:32):
hard for me to say no to a bag.
But to this day, I speak toeveryone on my way in the store,
on my way out of the store,because they know if you know
me, I'm not stealing from you.
And if you think I stole fromyou, I'll give it back and we'll
(19:53):
find a way to make it right.
[inaudible] my next poems are atrilogy on black history.
The first one is called.
I am black history from Africa,America spanning the world.
(20:15):
Quite possibly my DNA, struggledto survive to make me my
existence is a Testament tosurvival fitness.
My life is to nurture the futureand bear witness the past.
My name is the name of propertythey gave my heritage.
My lineage is that of a slave.
Yes.
Slave property, harsh words tohear great.
(20:39):
Granddad was born and slaved.
Three generations too.
Near granddad, laid bricks,played music and sang hope from
grandma's illiterate lips.
I sprang it.
Lineage broken in Georgia orCarolina, South passed on and on
by word of mouth.
The legacy must pass through meto give my children power for
(21:02):
their mamas line.
Stopped off, stepped off theMayflower in both.
I must help them see honor forthe strength and the pride that
made me must endure listeningand teaching and learning.
I press on without blamelearning from the past about my
past, I move on without shameeach new day, new creation.
(21:27):
I write the story.
One of survival, renewalreflection, doggedly pushing
toward glory.
I am black yesterday.
I am black.
Now I am black history.
(21:49):
[inaudible] the second one.
This is young lady, and it'ssomewhat speaks to a stereotype
that I have really worked hardto avoid to steer clear of.
And that is of the black studveer aisle, strong, healthy
worth breeding.
(22:11):
Sure.
I couldn't help it.
Multiple baby mamas, childreneverywhere.
It's not me.
(22:33):
And it's a choice for me to notbe that person.
This next poem is called younglady, young lady.
I look you in the eye.
Not because you are the objectof my desire.
It is not that you set my heart.
My mind, my loin on fire.
(22:54):
I nod to you.
It is my bow to the honor youare born with, but may not know
right now.
It is not the curve of your hipor the pucker of your lip.
That catches my eye.
It is the queen in you.
The hope that one day you willbe president the hope that one
day you will know your power.
(23:15):
Young lady.
I look you in the eye and see adaughter, a sister, a mother, a
grandmother, and hope you do notknow their struggle.
Young lady.
My hope that should you choose.
So in life you accomplish morethan just life.
You turn from me and laugh.
You think your underwire acceptsit.
(23:37):
Lights my fire.
That your hip makes myheartbeat.
Dip.
Young lady.
I look you in the eye and sendvia spiritual wifi, honor.
Courage, strength, and love for,with this.
The girl you are will become thelady I see.
Okay.
(24:03):
[inaudible] and the third ofthis is called young black man.
I wave at you.
Not because we are friends,although we may be one day,
because not very long ago, youwere unseen.
Not very long ago.
(24:23):
You could not grow to be a man.
You could only be a boy, youngblack man.
I nod to you because maybe yourfather or your father's father
was only worth the work he coulddo.
And you are worth my time.
Young black, man, you see me andlaugh.
(24:45):
You see my nod and don'tunderstand, may you never know.
I wave at me and you, the methat did not know hate the me
that did not know injustice.
The me that did not know I wasnot a leading man.
The men, the me that did notknow what was ahead.
(25:07):
Young black man, one day youwill wave at me when you wave.
I hope you wave at you.
You see inside of me[inaudible]I had a heavy stuff.
(25:36):
It has a heavy history.
Uh, and the next part I have isactually I have quite a few
poems that were inspired by theturmoil that we had Trayvon
Martin.
Uh, yeah.
Um, and it, but it goes back,uh, cause I was young and I
(25:58):
happened to find, um, a jetmagazine.
It's a little littlepublication.
And in that magazine there werepictures of Emmett till, and it
was the[inaudible].
(26:28):
That was eight year old.
Me opening up that jet magazineagain.
And seeing those things, Ididn't know it was human.
I didn't know that was a person.
Um, what I saw and when I did ithurt.
Um, and yet it continues.
It continues in so manydifferent ways.
(26:48):
Uh, and this next poem wasactually not really inspired by
that.
It was actually inspired by thefact that Amatil was somebody's
son, Trayvon Martin wassomebody's son.
Um, and these are kids whodidn't get to grow up.
Maybe they were the history, theanswer to the change that we
need in the world.
(27:10):
And that's why it's delayedbecause we're waiting for the
next one.
This poem was called too soon.
You entered this world right ontime, just when we needed.
And we did not know it.
You were feisty and wonderful.
And funny many days you testedme.
(27:32):
You challenged my resolve.
You lit up more rooms than youdarkened.
The only rooms you darkened werethe ones where you hit the
switch.
I expected to see your smileuntil my vision faded.
I anticipated the day when yourwisdom would exceed my own.
I never expected the sorrow ofmissing you.
Whatever strike the past fewwords I've spoken.
(27:58):
I will speak you back into thisroom.
And hopefully men in thefractures of my broken heart,
you entered this world right ontime.
You left this world far too soonfor those of, you know, Pooja
(28:26):
Meyer just came to my mind.
And that's why I struggled atthe end, uh, too soon.
Take a moment.
(28:47):
Yes.
To breathe for some strangereason, I put it on the future.
Looks bright.
The future starts today.
That's hope short poem I've everwritten.
I think a year ago, I guess itwas, I started a project writing
(29:15):
a poem a day and I thought I'dget through a few months.
And a few months led into a fewmore months.
And then I got going and Ifigured I'd continue for the
duration of a year.
See if I can get through 365poems.
And I managed to get through 365days of foam.
Sometimes it was difficult.
Um, some times it was reallyeasy and I would write three or
(29:37):
four in the morning and try andstack them up.
But then the next day I'd havethree or more that I'd stack up.
And, and it was, it was awonderful exercise.
And it also, it, it was, uh, anamazing can say fun struggle,
um, to, to go through with that.
Uh, and some of it, it broughtme back to the lightness of
(30:03):
being able to write, being ableto conjure, uh, just about
anything through writing andthen putting that, putting that
into the world and seeing whathappens watching what magic has
made.
And this is one of the poemsfrom a poem a day within the
dream, tangible weaves withintangible substance becomes vapor
(30:24):
and vapor becomes vegetable.
Guardians of hope, laugh anddangerous sleeps night turns
into pudding and day becomes abanquet feast waking.
I am the dream, the dreamer andthe dreamt[inaudible] through
(30:47):
the work that I've done inwriting and also dealing with
myself.
There's a lot of digging deeperinto me.
What motivates me?
Who am I?
What is my foundation?
What is my root?
Where's my spirit.
And this is some of that in myPulma day writings, there was
only one me I can be.
(31:08):
I may change my clothes styleand restyle my hair or lock it
off altogether, work this job.
And not that one.
And yet who I am remains.
This is the me I am meant to be.
I know because I know me[inaudible] we are one.
(31:37):
You are neither daughter nor sonfor you are the star, the moon,
the sky, in which reality hangsdo not fight to define yourself.
You are the God.
You seek not a reflection, not ashadow.
God knows you as God.
It is time you stop pretendingto be anything and be
(31:59):
everything.
The illusion of reality willmelt away.
Only after you give up onfiguring it out, the universe
will become your world.
As it always has been.
All that separates you fromanything else will cease.
You will greet everyone as God,just as you know yourself to be
(32:19):
stand down, wake up dream onreality is the illusion.
And all that is not is reality.
Breathe in peace, breathe outpeace, breathe in love and fill
all that is with love.
Not mistake, silly ending.
(32:53):
That's what we need is a sillyending.
Otherwise it's just heaviness.
When you step out here without apurpose and a plan and a way of
proceeding, and I have changedmy way of activism from this
writing and started writingjokes.
(33:17):
Yes.
Yes.
Cause I figured it's a, it'sactually a really subversive
tool that I'm using.
Because when, when you telljokes, people laugh.
When people laugh, they inhaleand the exhale and you get a
whole group of people inhalingand exhaling.
It's joyful.
And it changes the way a room iswhen you have a few people that
(33:38):
are joyful and more people enterin and they become joyful and
they don't even know why.
And I can tell you what thereason why is because you have
just charged the room, all thatbreathing in and out.
It's still energy in the air andit's lingering.
And those people are walkinginto it like a FOD screen,
right?
And they're chewing it likebubble gum and they don't even
(33:59):
know it.
And so what I'm working to dothrough my art is activism.
Tell a joke or two talk deeply,tell another joke.
(34:20):
We are the solution.
We are the change.
No night is going to write uphere on a white horse in shining
armor.
They will probably get hit by atruck trying, um, it's up to us.
We showed up we're here.
How are we going to do that?
We're going to each do it in ourown way.
(34:42):
Mine is through laughter andthrough poetry.
And with that, the illusion isthat reality is not what it
seems the reality is.
We haven't a clue as to where tobegin questioning reality.
The illusion is necessary tokeep our heads from turning into
(35:04):
lollipops, which stops us fromtrying to lick ourselves silly.
And that's all I have to sayabout black history.
(35:25):
Thank you very much for havingme here.
Thank you star for inviting meback and I'll keep coming back
every year till I run out ofwords.
Um, and thank you all for beinghere.
And I, I can't say it enough.
It is so wonderful to be in thiscommunity, um, to feel, and to
(35:45):
know that there's a power ofpurpose and passion, um, amongst
all of us.
And, and we can look at eachother in the eye and see the
power of the passion, the God ineach of us, and honor that.
Thank you.
(36:20):
[inaudible] if you have anyquestions you may ask away,
there was also books for saleover there too, which I'll be
over to attend to in just amoment.
Bill, have you been as aMemorial for him until I have
not.
(36:42):
Let's go because I've beenreading about it.
They keep having to replace itbecause it gets shut off all the
time.
So now they've made a sign thatis so Bulletproof.
And why is that necessary?
Yes, let's go.
(37:03):
Yeah.
So you can kill two birds orfeed two birds with one handful
of CDs can just share the poemwith the woman.
(37:52):
Yes.
Sacred and sacrosanct has someof the poems, the shorter ones
they did towards the end are in,uh, a poem a day.
And I'm each of the poem of dayones.
I have two of the, uh, half of ayear.
So each quarter of poems is inone of those books and I'm
(38:15):
working on creating the, thelarge volume that's has the
whole year.
And so that hopefully will beout soonish here.
There's a comedy night.
Yes.
Yeah.
So, uh, do this thing where I'mtrying to do comedy.
No, I'm doing comedy.
(38:35):
So third, Tuesday of the night,if those of you who need a laugh
at the stone church, just stepsfrom here.
Um, third, Tuesday.
So next Tuesday, the 18th isevery month.
Yes.
Is comedy.
And I host that 7:00 PM.
We start well, 7:00 PM.
The door is open seven 30.
(38:56):
The comedy starts because it'sopen mic.
So during that half hour, peoplecan sign up.
If you want to tell a joke, youcan sign up and tell some jokes.
And it's also one of the onlyopen mics where I do give
feedback to help you improveyour joke telling as well.
(39:18):
Um, and the feedback is to helpimprove, not to cut away
anything what's working and howyou can maybe enhance that.
I have not.
Thank you for the suggestion.
(39:42):
Any other questions?
You're welcome.
Thank you.
[inaudible].
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