Media File 2 of 3 - Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060].mp4
AV File 2
Annotations
00:00 - 00:00
English [Transcript]
https://d9jk7wjtjpu5g.cloudfront.net/file_transcripts/associated_files/000/092/358/original/UA0017-DVCAM-0060_edited.vtt.vtt?1774451330
00:00 - 00:09
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: : home. Elementary molecules converged for a breath, then danced on beyond my individual death.
00:00 - 00:00
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[laughter]
00:09 - 00:12
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: And I am not my body.
00:12 - 00:13
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: I am not my body.
00:14 - 00:17
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: We are brief incarnations.
00:17 - 00:19
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: We are clouds enclosed.
00:20 - 00:23
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: We are water respirators.
00:23 - 00:25
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: We are how earth knows.
00:26 - 00:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: I bore life passed on from an original flame.
00:30 - 00:35
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: While it was in my hands, it was called by my name.
00:35 - 00:37
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: But I am not my body.
00:37 - 00:40
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: I am not my body.
00:40 - 00:45
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: You can own a man's body, but you can't own his mind.
00:45 - 00:50
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: That's like making a bridle to ride on the wind.
00:50 - 00:54
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: I will tell you one thing, and I'll tell you true.
00:54 - 00:58
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: Life's the best thing that can happen to you,
00:58 - 01:00
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: but you are not your body.
01:00 - 01:03
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: You are not your body.
01:03 - 01:08
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: You can own someone's body, but the soul runs free.
01:08 - 01:13
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: It roams the night sky's mute geometry.
01:13 - 01:15
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: You can murder hope.
01:15 - 01:18
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: You can pound faith flat.
01:18 - 01:23
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: But like weeds and wildflowers, they grow right back.
01:23 - 01:25
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: For you are not your body.
01:25 - 01:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: You are not your body.
01:30 - 01:32
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: You are not your bones.
01:32 - 01:37
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: What's essential about you is what can't be owned.
01:37 - 01:41
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: What's essential in you is your longing
01:41 - 01:46
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: to raise your itty bitty voice in the cosmic praise
01:47 - 01:49
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: for you are not your body.
01:49 - 01:51
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: You are not your body.
01:52 - 01:56
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: Well, I woke up this morning just so glad to be free,
01:56 - 01:59
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: glad to be free, glad to be free.
01:59 - 02:03
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: I woke up this morning in restful peace.
02:03 - 02:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: For I am not my body.
02:05 - 02:07
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: I am not my bones.
02:07 - 02:09
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: I am not my body.
02:09 - 02:11
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: Glory, hallelujah.
02:11 - 02:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: I am not my bones.
02:16 - 02:17
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Marilyn Nelson: Thank you.
02:17 - 02:46
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
02:46 - 02:49
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: : Good afternoon.
02:49 - 02:50
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Very, very good to be here.
02:50 - 03:01
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: And good to be on this stage with such wonderful poets
03:01 - 03:04
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: and to be with Cave Canem.
03:04 - 03:06
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: At the very least, they've given me a great T-shirt
03:06 - 03:08
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: that I like to wear.
03:12 - 03:14
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Of course, there's more.
03:14 - 03:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I want to do a few poems.
03:16 - 03:21
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I want to dedicate this reading to Tom Feelings, my good friend.
03:21 - 03:26
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
03:26 - 03:32
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Who taught me much and gave me an opportunity to learn how
03:32 - 03:35
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: to write poems for children.
03:35 - 03:37
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I want to read this poem called Research,
03:37 - 03:40
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: which is part of a book called Requiem.
03:40 - 03:42
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: It's a poem that was a collection of poems
03:42 - 03:47
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: that were really shaped by his stunning art in the book,
03:49 - 03:54
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: The Middle Passage. White Ships, Black Cargo.
04:00 - 04:03
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Tom says, for me, that was New York City.
04:04 - 04:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: That was where the pain was.
04:08 - 04:11
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Tom Feelings you did not have to imagine
04:11 - 04:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: the masks of agony, did not have to research the eyes blank
04:16 - 04:20
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: stare, did not have to study the ethnic tribes
04:20 - 04:24
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: to see the shape of Africa in the lips and noses,
04:24 - 04:27
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: the weight of buttocks, did not have
04:27 - 04:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: to invent the blues of suffering, the jazz of rebellion,
04:30 - 04:34
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: the fire of survival, because you looked across Brooklyn
04:34 - 04:37
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: and saw the road-weary gaze of them who still
04:37 - 04:40
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: travel in the belly of ships.
04:40 - 04:43
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Then who still sit among the cinder of the soot,
04:43 - 04:47
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: riding that freedom train to the factories of the north,
04:47 - 04:50
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: herded into the tombs of the ghetto?
04:50 - 04:54
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Stare at your face in the mirror after the stomach unfurls
04:54 - 04:59
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: the king, the skin smarting from being spat on,
04:59 - 05:02
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: shat on, pissed on.
05:02 - 05:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: You draw lines from somewhere cherished,
05:05 - 05:10
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Our gasps, groans, whispers are the minor key,
05:11 - 05:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: the antiphonal melodies of our recognition of self.
05:17 - 05:22
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: We enter your Holocaust with trepidation
05:22 - 05:26
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: and leave the stench with tears
05:26 - 05:31
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: and something like gratitude for the waters of healing,
05:32 - 05:35
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: the salt, the light.
05:35 - 05:44
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
05:44 - 05:49
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: It's a dangerous poem at this time.
05:49 - 05:53
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: November is coming up.
05:53 - 05:58
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: But what the heck.
05:58 - 06:00
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Fat Man.
06:00 - 06:06
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause and cheering]
06:06 - 06:11
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: What are these so withered and wild they bear a time?
06:11 - 06:14
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Streetcar catch a fire, passengers glowing like coals.
06:14 - 06:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Now, who are these come wailing this way like zombies?
06:16 - 06:20
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Arms stretched out, skin melting from their bones.
06:20 - 06:27
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: These are my enemies with worms in their eyes.
06:27 - 06:31
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Don't you know that I am Fat Man?
06:31 - 06:34
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: You could be my Little Boy.
06:34 - 06:39
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Since August 1945, I've ruled the sky, turned day into night.
06:39 - 06:41
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: See me, big, big, Fat Man.
06:41 - 06:45
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I want you to be my Little Boy.
06:45 - 06:48
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Count not the casualties of war.
06:48 - 06:50
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Count the fronts that are gained.
06:50 - 06:53
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Women and children are soldier factories.
06:53 - 06:54
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Eliminate them.
06:54 - 06:57
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I have become death, the conqueror of worlds.
06:57 - 07:00
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Hawk-Eye and Swift-Eye swoop down and plunder.
07:00 - 07:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Obey me, play rock and roll, or you will be my enemies
07:07 - 07:08
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: with worms in your eyes.
07:10 - 07:12
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: You will be my enemies
07:12 - 07:14
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Don't you know that I am Fat Man?
07:16 - 07:17
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I want you to be my Little Boy.
07:17 - 07:21
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: We could rule the nations hand in hand.
07:21 - 07:24
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: We could rule the nations together, hand in hand.
07:24 - 07:28
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Market Jesus and baseball caps together,
07:28 - 07:29
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: hand in hand.
07:29 - 07:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: See me?
07:30 - 07:34
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Big, big, Fat Man.
07:34 - 07:38
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I want you to be my Little Boy.
07:38 - 07:50
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause and cheering]
07:50 - 07:51
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Thank you.
07:51 - 07:58
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: For those of us who are not citizens and are green card holders,
07:58 - 08:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: we know how easily we can be cast out.
08:05 - 08:08
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: So I don't do that poem lightly.
08:08 - 08:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I want to do a poem called Tornado Child for one of the great women
08:16 - 08:22
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: of South Carolina called Rosie Richardson.
08:24 - 08:26
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: But you know what?
08:26 - 08:28
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I don't have it here.
08:28 - 08:31
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[laughter]
08:31 - 08:33
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I said I just realized it's not here.
08:33 - 08:35
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: What a tragedy.
08:35 - 08:37
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: All right.
08:37 - 08:38
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Well, that leaves us with Rita.
08:38 - 08:41
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
08:41 - 08:45
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: This poem is for Rita Marley.
08:45 - 08:48
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: We talk a lot about Bob Marley.
08:48 - 08:49
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I certainly do.
08:49 - 08:55
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I've written a book and a half on Bob Marley.
08:55 - 08:58
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: But there's another side to the story.
08:58 - 09:01
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: And this is the story of Rita Marley.
09:01 - 09:06
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: And in many ways, Rita is a completely gentle woman.
09:06 - 09:11
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: So this slightly longer poem is for Rita Marley.
09:11 - 09:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: It's simply called Rita.
09:16 - 09:18
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I first saw you kicking in the background
09:18 - 09:22
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: of a jumping camera shot while the dread held forth,
09:22 - 09:24
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: constructing his facade of enigma,
09:24 - 09:27
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: dodging the barbs and darts of Babylon with code.
09:27 - 09:31
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: And three times he denied you, called you a sister,
09:31 - 09:36
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: like Isaac did to Rebecca, leaving her there hanging
09:36 - 09:41
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: like that, open season for him and the boys.
09:41 - 09:45
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: That is what you were, a flower tarnished, just a helping
09:45 - 09:49
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: sister, mother in the kitchen, swollen with child.
09:49 - 09:52
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: And who watching this would have known of the nights
09:52 - 09:54
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: you would crawl into your parabolic womb
09:54 - 09:58
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: to become the man-child again, searching
09:58 - 10:01
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: for a father who rode off on his white steed
10:01 - 10:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: and never returned, never sent a message.
10:05 - 10:07
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: For years I thought you had lied,
10:07 - 10:10
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: for it was our way to believe the patriarch.
10:10 - 10:15
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: And who would want to declare the coupling of the downtown dread
10:15 - 10:17
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: with the uptown miss world?
10:17 - 10:20
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Too sweetly ironic, too much of Hollywood
10:20 - 10:23
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: in this sun-drenched, dust-beaten city.
10:23 - 10:28
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Who would let your black face, weighed down by the insult,
10:28 - 10:31
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: disturb our reverie?
10:31 - 10:32
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I did not believe the rumors.
10:32 - 10:36
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: So while the nation grumbled and called you, cast you out,
10:36 - 10:39
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: declared your gold digger and such delight
10:39 - 10:41
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: when he was buried and celebrated in death
10:41 - 10:44
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: and you published the wedding pictures,
10:44 - 10:47
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: the family snapshots of another time.
10:47 - 10:49
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: When you battled like a higgler for rights
10:49 - 10:54
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: and played every dubious game in the book, rough house slander,
10:54 - 10:56
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: ratchet smile, and all I called it poetic,
10:56 - 10:58
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: the justice you received.
10:58 - 11:03
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: For you played the cards right, no bad card drawn in your hands
11:03 - 11:08
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: as you sat quietly in the back room like a nun, bride of Christ,
11:08 - 11:10
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: and slave to mission.
11:10 - 11:15
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: And when you knew other men before the tears that dry
11:15 - 11:19
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: from our eyes and made another child in your fertile womb,
11:19 - 11:21
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: when your garments of silence were replaced
11:21 - 11:24
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: with the garish gold and silver of decadence,
11:24 - 11:27
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: when you entered the studio to play rude girl,
11:27 - 11:28
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: naughty as hell talking about feeling
11:28 - 11:32
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: damn high and rolling your backside like a teenager,
11:32 - 11:35
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I had to smile at the poetic meaning of it all,
11:35 - 11:39
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: For you fasted before this feast.
11:39 - 11:41
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: You played the wife of noble character,
11:41 - 11:44
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: eating the bitter fruit of every wild dread,
11:44 - 11:48
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: sought out the light-skinned beauties.
11:48 - 11:54
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: From London to LA, King Solomon multiplied himself
11:54 - 11:57
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: among the concubines.
11:57 - 12:01
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: These days, I have found a lesson of patience
12:01 - 12:04
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: in your clever ways, a picture of fortitude despite the tears.
12:04 - 12:08
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: You are Jamaican woman with the pragmatic walk
12:08 - 12:12
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: of a higgler offering an open bed for his mind-weary nights.
12:12 - 12:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: An ear for his whispered fears and trepidations and a bag
12:16 - 12:21
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: of sand for a body to be beaten, slappe up, kicked, and abused.
12:21 - 12:28
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: You took it all like a loan to be paid in full at the right time.
12:28 - 12:31
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I no longer blame you for the rabid battles raging
12:31 - 12:34
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: over the uneasy grave of the rising dreadful.
12:34 - 12:39
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Now I know how little we know of those seven days in St. Anne's,
12:39 - 12:42
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: farmers' one shack, one room shack where you made love
12:42 - 12:46
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: like a stirring pot and watched the stars,
12:46 - 12:47
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: for they were your only light.
12:47 - 12:52
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: What potions you must have made to tie your souls together like this.
12:52 - 12:56
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I simply watch your poetic flight, black sister, Reaping fruit
12:56 - 12:59
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: for the mother left abandoned with a fair-skinned child,
12:59 - 13:01
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: for the slave woman who caressed the head
13:01 - 13:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: of some married white master with hopes of finding favor
13:05 - 13:06
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: when the days were ripe.
13:06 - 13:09
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: All who sought salt and bitter herbs,
13:09 - 13:12
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: all who scratched dust, scavenged for love,
13:12 - 13:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: all who drew bad cards, you have walked the walk well.
13:16 - 13:19
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: The pattern is an old one.
13:19 - 13:20
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I know it now.
13:20 - 13:23
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: It's your time now, God's answer.
13:23 - 13:25
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Ride on, my dear.
13:25 - 13:27
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Ride on, my sister.
13:27 - 13:29
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Ride on.
13:29 - 13:42
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
13:42 - 13:49
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: A poem for a piece of art that was made in the 16th century, a crucifix found in the
13:49 - 13:51
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Congo.
13:51 - 13:56
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: It's called I Presume.
13:56 - 14:01
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Jesus, I never expected to run into you here.
14:01 - 14:03
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[laughter]
14:03 - 14:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: But that is faithlessness.
14:05 - 14:08
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Forgive me, friend.
14:08 - 14:12
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Still, it is nice to see you hanging here, black like me,
14:12 - 14:17
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: locks all falling down, your poor ribs pulled apart.
14:17 - 14:21
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: On that wooden cross, your navel jutting like an Accra child,
14:21 - 14:24
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: their nipples swollen like a woman before sunk,
14:24 - 14:29
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: how they have suffered, Oh Savior, how they have bled.
14:30 - 14:33
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Here at the crossroads, the sun has traversed the sky
14:33 - 14:38
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: to meet the soul's hair, silently staring at your body,
14:38 - 14:40
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: starkly there in the bush.
14:41 - 14:46
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Give thanks for the sacredness of wood,
14:46 - 14:48
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: of grass, of iron,
14:48 - 14:51
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: and the tapestry of nails.
14:51 - 14:59
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
14:59 - 15:02
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I want to end with two poems for my brother.
15:03 - 15:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: My brother is Kojo.
15:06 - 15:08
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: He's a wonderful artist.
15:08 - 15:22
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: And when he was 14 years old, he suffered a nervous breakdown.
15:25 - 15:28
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: And we didn't know what was going on.
15:28 - 15:38
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: And this poem is called Ward 21.
15:38 - 15:44
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: And it's the insane asylum at the University of the West Indies.
15:44 - 15:46
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Well, it's not the insane asylum.
15:46 - 15:48
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: It's the psychiatric ward.
15:48 - 15:53
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: You go there before you go to the insane asylum.
15:53 - 15:57
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: So it's called Ward 21.
15:57 - 16:03
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: The dirt track turns to marl in the winged tunnel
16:03 - 16:08
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: between maternity, the pale yellow gowns of swollen women,
16:08 - 16:12
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: a constant slash of light through the gray novas,
16:12 - 16:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: and the whitewashed ward where you are.
16:16 - 16:19
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: My heart grows as I walk by casually trying
16:19 - 16:23
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: to pretend I have forgotten your eyes pleading with me
16:23 - 16:25
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: in the brightly lit greeting room,
16:25 - 16:31
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: You pointing to the stumble and glossolalia of the pretty girl
16:31 - 16:34
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: who does not care that her breasts are poking
16:34 - 16:38
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: through the too small hospital gown.
16:38 - 16:44
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Around us, the sterile, slow pace of madness medicating.
16:44 - 16:47
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Like you, I imagine that you don't belong.
16:47 - 16:51
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I imagine you are too astute, too collected for this.
16:51 - 16:54
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Your pathologies are civil things.
16:54 - 16:58
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Yet I see the scars on your knuckles, and you drool,
16:59 - 17:02
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: how you drool, your tongue not yours,
17:02 - 17:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: just the clumsy lump of meat in your heart.
17:06 - 17:10
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: You are telling me you need to go, lucid as anyone I know,
17:10 - 17:14
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: until you laugh, reminding me of the morning I held you down,
17:14 - 17:17
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: tied your wings, did not have the faith,
17:17 - 17:22
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: and in that same clean logic, your eyes stare steady at me
17:22 - 17:27
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: as you speak in soft conspiracy, I would be flying now.
17:27 - 17:28
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: You know that.
17:28 - 17:34
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I would be flying if you never wore me down.
17:34 - 17:37
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: It has been a week since I stopped.
17:37 - 17:40
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: That last time the orderlies told me
17:40 - 17:43
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: of the straps you strained against, the electricity,
17:43 - 17:47
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: the padded walls, the tears, as if you were someone else,
17:47 - 17:49
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: as if they needed me to understand the lunatic's
17:49 - 17:55
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: dialect as if they saw in me the hubris of class,
17:55 - 18:00
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: of the hope of sanity, as if I did not understand
18:00 - 18:03
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: the ordinariness of tragedy.
18:03 - 18:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: That day, I did not stop.
18:05 - 18:07
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I simply bowed my head and walked away,
18:07 - 18:11
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: weeping angry at my tears, at the noble sorrow,
18:11 - 18:13
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: as if it was me caught in this wrestle
18:13 - 18:17
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: with the chemistry of the head, the demon tyranny.
18:17 - 18:20
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I wept like an actor, testing each move,
18:20 - 18:25
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: swept, yes, by the passion of the narrative,
18:25 - 18:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: but consumed by the tragic consequence of fear.
18:30 - 18:33
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I wept as I walked the stony path, the papine,
18:33 - 18:34
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: helpless like that.
18:34 - 18:38
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Tonight is the seventh night I have walked past.
18:38 - 18:40
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: It becomes easier now.
18:40 - 18:46
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I fear only that you will see me going by, not stopping.
18:46 - 18:53
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Maybe you'll see my lips moving, praying for the miracle of promise,
18:53 - 18:58
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: another vanity, the scripted prophecy of my peace.
18:58 - 19:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
19:05 - 19:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Thank you. Thanks. And I'll read just one poem that is not its support.
19:16 - 19:18
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: It's support.
19:18 - 19:22
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: I call it Unhinged.
19:22 - 19:25
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: A man mistook me for you.
19:25 - 19:27
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: It happens.
19:27 - 19:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: He wrote a letter, asked if I was the one who went berserk
19:30 - 19:34
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: at that cadet camp in Ocho Rios.
19:34 - 19:36
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: In his remembering, the boy standing
19:36 - 19:40
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: in the mud despite the sudden glare of an after rain sky,
19:40 - 19:44
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: watching the other boys, near men, play acting warriors,
19:44 - 19:48
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: eyes aflame with the conviction of these rituals, the wrestling,
19:48 - 19:52
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: the commands, the due defiant and willing to play along.
19:52 - 19:57
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: He wrote to me 20 years later as if he was that 11-year-old
19:57 - 20:00
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: who never learned if the silent creature,
20:00 - 20:04
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: laughless, a dull-eyed who stumbled from the cage,
20:04 - 20:09
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: they kept him in for a night and a day was fine, was okay.
20:10 - 20:13
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: He wrote as if he could never shake the madness of it all,
20:13 - 20:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: the sound of a teenager whose voice was breaking,
20:16 - 20:19
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: howling through the night, the frogs bleating,
20:19 - 20:24
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: the sea uncurling, the NCOs joking and everyone forgetting
20:24 - 20:26
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: how easily boys become killers,
20:26 - 20:29
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: how easily blood makes men of us.
20:29 - 20:33
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: He said he was glad to see I was doing so well.
20:33 - 20:38
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Books and all, my survival, your survival, his healing.
20:40 - 20:44
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: So when I wrote to say that I was not
20:44 - 20:48
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: who he thought I was, when I said your mind had unhinged
20:48 - 20:52
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: and was still broken, that your life stopped the day
20:52 - 20:55
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: and for seven years everything stopped growing
20:55 - 20:58
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: when I wanted him to know of my guilt
20:58 - 21:01
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: for not believing that someone did this to you,
21:01 - 21:04
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: that they did this to you, that it was not we,
21:04 - 21:07
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: not the trauma of a lost last child,
21:07 - 21:10
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: not envy, not some diabolic demon,
21:10 - 21:14
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: but the brute cruelty of boys coaxed by half-men
21:14 - 21:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: so impotent that they sought to relieve
21:16 - 21:19
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: their failed lives in the company of boys.
21:19 - 21:23
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: When I told him these stories, he never wrote back.
21:23 - 21:24
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Never once.
21:24 - 21:25
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Not again.
21:25 - 21:27
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Never again.
21:27 - 21:28
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Kwame Dawes: Thank you.
21:28 - 21:54
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
21:55 - 21:57
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: : Thank you.
21:57 - 21:58
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Thank all of you.
21:58 - 22:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Thank you for being my colleagues and role models and friends.
22:05 - 22:07
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: What a dream, really.
22:07 - 22:21
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: I'm going to start with one poem from a very long series about the Amistad.
22:21 - 22:23
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: And I thought about many things that I hadn't thought about
22:23 - 22:26
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: before about that incident.
22:26 - 22:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: And one of them was that there were no women on that ship,
22:30 - 22:32
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: though there were children.
22:32 - 22:34
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: There were three little girls, one little boy,
22:34 - 22:36
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: and the rest were grown men.
22:36 - 22:39
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: So this poem came out of that meditation.
22:39 - 22:46
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: It's called Absence, part of a big 25-section poem.
22:46 - 22:52
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: In the absence of women on board, when the ship reached the point
22:52 - 22:56
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: where no land mass was visible in any direction,
22:56 - 23:03
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: and the funk had begun to accrue, body funk, spirit funk, soul funk,
23:03 - 23:09
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: who commenced the moaning? Who first hummed that deep sound from empty
23:09 - 23:12
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: bowels, roiling stomachs from back of the
23:12 - 23:15
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: of a frantically thumping heart.
23:15 - 23:19
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: In the absence of women, of mothers, who found the note
23:19 - 23:21
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: that would soon be called blue?
23:21 - 23:25
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: The first blue note from one bowel, one throat,
23:25 - 23:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: joined by dark others in gnarled harmony.
23:30 - 23:34
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Before the head rag, the cast iron skillet,
23:34 - 23:40
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: new blue awaited on the other shore, invisible as yet unhummed.
23:40 - 23:43
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Who knew what note to hit or how?
23:43 - 23:47
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: In the middle of the ocean, in the absence of women,
23:47 - 23:51
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: there is no deeper deep, no bluer blue.
23:51 - 23:58
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
23:58 - 24:02
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: So this is all new work from American Sublime.
24:02 - 24:04
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Emancipation.
24:04 - 24:09
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Corncob constellation, oyster shell, drawstring pouch,
24:09 - 24:11
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Dry bones.
24:11 - 24:14
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Gree-gree in the rafters.
24:14 - 24:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Hoodoo in the sleeping nook.
24:16 - 24:20
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Mojo in Wendigren's crawlspace.
24:20 - 24:24
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: 19th century corncob cosmogram set on the dirt floor
24:24 - 24:27
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: beneath the slant roof sleeping space,
24:27 - 24:31
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: left intact the afternoon that someone came and told,
24:31 - 24:36
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: those slaves, we're free.
24:36 - 24:40
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Little Slave Narrative number one, Master.
24:40 - 24:42
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: He would order the women to pull up their clothes
24:42 - 24:45
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: in Alabama style, as he called it.
24:45 - 24:47
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: He would whip them for not complying.
24:47 - 24:50
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: He taught bloodhounds to chase down Negro boys,
24:50 - 24:54
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: hence the expression, hellhounds on my trail.
24:54 - 24:57
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: He was fond of peach brandy, put ads in the paper,
24:57 - 25:00
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: search high, search low for my runaway Isaac,
25:00 - 25:03
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: my runaway Joe, his right cheek scarred,
25:03 - 25:07
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: occasioned by buckshot, runaway Ben Fox, very black,
25:07 - 25:10
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: chunky maid, $200 live and if dead,
25:10 - 25:13
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: bring his dead body so I may look at it.
25:16 - 25:17
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Smile.
25:19 - 25:22
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: When I see a Black man smiling like that,
25:22 - 25:26
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: nodding and smiling with both hands visible,
25:26 - 25:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: mouthing, yes, officer, across the street,
25:30 - 25:36
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: I think of my father who taught us the words cooperate, officer,
25:36 - 25:40
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: to memorize badge numbers, who has seen Black men shot
25:40 - 25:43
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: at from behind in the warm months north.
25:45 - 25:50
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: And I think of the fine line, hairline, eyelash,
25:50 - 25:53
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: fingernail pairing, the whisper
25:53 - 25:56
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: that separates obsequious from safe.
25:57 - 26:02
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Armstrong, Johnson, Washington, Robinson.
26:02 - 26:08
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: A woman with a yellow head of cotton candy hair stumbles out of a bar at after lunchtime,
26:08 - 26:12
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: clutching a Black man's arm as if for her life.
26:12 - 26:24
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: And the brother smiles, and his eyes are flint as he watches all sides of the street.
26:24 - 26:25
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: When.
26:25 - 26:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: In the early 1980s, the Black men were divine, spoke French,
26:30 - 26:33
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: had read everything, made filet mignon
26:33 - 26:36
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: with green peppercorn sauce, listened artfully
26:36 - 26:38
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: to boyfriend troubles, operatically declaimed
26:38 - 26:42
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: boyfriend troubles, had been to Bamako and Bahia,
26:42 - 26:45
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: knew how to clear bad humors from a house,
26:45 - 26:49
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: had been to Baldwin's Villa in St. Paul, drank espresso
26:49 - 26:53
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: with Soyinka and Senghor, kissed hello on both cheeks,
26:53 - 26:57
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Quoted Baraka's Black art, fuck poems and they are useful.
26:57 - 27:01
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Tore up the disco dance floor, wore gold lip,
27:01 - 27:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: photographed well, did not smoke, said ciao.
27:05 - 27:09
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Then all the men's faces were spotted.
27:09 - 27:19
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
27:19 - 27:21
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Krishna denies eating mud.
27:23 - 27:29
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Blue boy, the apple of his mother's ravening eye.
27:29 - 27:35
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Blue as the noon sky, blue as the sea, beautiful Krishna, come to me.
27:35 - 27:41
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: The boy eats rocks, eats nails, great fistfuls of mud.
27:41 - 27:45
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Mother pries the mud mouth open and looks inside.
27:45 - 27:51
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: A globe, planets, oceans, telescopes, Milky Way, books, beasts, flowers,
27:51 - 27:58
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: vegetables, minutes, time, history, the universe in Krishna's mouth.
27:58 - 28:01
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Mother faints, astonished.
28:01 - 28:05
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Krishna, you will remember none of this.
28:05 - 28:10
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Mother awakening, angel, blue angel, come sit on my lap.
28:10 - 28:18
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Come sit on my starry skirt.
28:18 - 28:20
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Siesta.
28:20 - 28:25
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: The sounds of the day turn to dust, particles fizzing
28:25 - 28:29
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: in a sunlight shaft, far away lawn mowers, leaf blowers,
28:29 - 28:35
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: motor car motors, and the purr of each baby in his sleep,
28:35 - 28:39
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: and Papa's snores, and the tick-tock clock.
28:39 - 28:44
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Even Donia, on the bed with Papa, the kitchen floor swept,
28:44 - 28:47
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: food set in the cupboard, hyacinth nipped,
28:47 - 28:51
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: and in water releasing its wild musk throughout the quiet house.
28:52 - 28:56
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Even Donia has taken her shoes off, laying down on the bed,
28:56 - 29:00
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: and fitted the arch of her foot in her husband's, and slept.
29:04 - 29:09
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Ode. I love all the mom bodies at this beach.
29:09 - 29:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: The tummies, the one-piece bathing suits, the bosoms that slope, the wide, nice bottoms,
29:16 - 29:24
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: thigh flesh shirred as gentle wind shurs a pond. So many sensible haircuts and
29:24 - 29:31
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: ponytails. These bodies show they have grown babies, then nourished them, woken
29:31 - 29:37
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: to their cries, fretted at their fevers. Biceps have lifted and toted the babies
29:37 - 29:42
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: now printed on their mothers. If you lined up a hundred vaginas, the midwife
29:42 - 29:48
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: says, I could tell you which ones have born children. In the secret place or in
29:48 - 29:54
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: sunlight at the beach, our bodies say, this is who we are. No, this is what we
29:54 - 30:02
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: have done and continue to do. We labor in love. We do it. We mother.
30:02 - 30:09
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
30:09 - 30:11
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: And don't spend too long picturing that.
30:11 - 30:15
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Snap out of it.
30:15 - 30:19
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: My Student Writes Fried Apples.
30:19 - 30:23
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: I saw my mother's father but a few times in my life.
30:23 - 30:27
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: A large man who glittered and made his own weather.
30:27 - 30:31
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Lived near, rarely visited, died when I was
30:31 - 30:35
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: ten. The first time I became a woman I thought I did
30:35 - 30:39
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: I did not want to know what he taught me about loving a glittering man.
30:41 - 30:47
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: I became a woman again and remembered my grandfather standing at the stove,
30:47 - 30:52
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: cooking a pan of fried apples for us one Sunday morning in summer,
30:53 - 30:55
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: and I began to take his measure.
30:55 - 31:02
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: I want to read a few poems from a section of Ars Poeticas,
31:02 - 31:06
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: But they are not all Ars Poetica in the conventional sense.
31:06 - 31:08
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Some are explicitly about the art of writing poetry,
31:08 - 31:12
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: but they are also about the art of doing, the art of living,
31:12 - 31:18
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: the art of how we do the things that we do.
31:18 - 31:21
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Ars Poetica number 10, Crossing Over.
31:21 - 31:27
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Like the low shaker cradle, sized for a diminished adult,
31:27 - 31:31
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: in which they rocked their elderly to death.
31:31 - 31:35
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Or the five evangelical nurses who sang the Jewish woman
31:35 - 31:39
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: to the precipice, then told her to let go,
31:39 - 31:43
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: go to Jesus in a humming circle.
31:43 - 31:47
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Like the mother of two sons who sent them away so they would not
31:47 - 31:52
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: see their mother die, who refused the shaker cradle.
31:52 - 31:57
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Like you, like our mother, who kept us as close for as long
31:57 - 32:04
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: as she could, then sent us away so she could.
32:04 - 32:09
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Ars Poetica number 17, first Afro-American Esperantist.
32:09 - 32:11
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Someone chuckled.
32:11 - 32:14
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: It's a little funny.
32:14 - 32:18
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: We're going into all the funny things in them.
32:18 - 32:24
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Gomo yaya, lingua franca, truffle or frango, epic, Affrilachia.
32:24 - 32:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Oh, language, my trinket, my dialect bucket, my bracelet of flesh.
32:31 - 32:36
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Certificate, Esperantist, heirloom trunk, Ben Beinecke,
32:36 - 32:40
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: x-ray, communicado, acid free.
32:42 - 32:46
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Ars, poetica number 28, African leave-taking disorder.
32:48 - 32:50
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: There's been a lot of that at this conference.
32:50 - 32:55
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: And it's a beautiful thing.
32:55 - 32:57
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: It's a beautiful thing.
32:57 - 33:03
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: So in my family, we coined this name for the long goodbye specific to a Negro.
33:03 - 33:09
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Ars is quote at the number 28, African leave-taking disorder.
33:09 - 33:13
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: The talk is good.
33:13 - 33:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: The two friends linger at the door.
33:16 - 33:18
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Urban crickets sing with them.
33:18 - 33:21
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: There is no after the supper and talk.
33:21 - 33:22
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: The talk is good.
33:22 - 33:26
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: These two friends linger at the door, half in, half out,
33:26 - 33:29
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: until one decides to walk the other home.
33:29 - 33:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: And so they walk.
33:30 - 33:32
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: More talk.
33:32 - 33:33
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: The new doorstep.
33:33 - 33:35
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: The nightgowned wife who shakes her head and smiles
33:35 - 33:38
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: from the bedroom window as the men talk in love
33:38 - 33:41
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: and the crickets sing along.
33:41 - 33:46
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: The joke would be if the one now home walked the other one home
33:46 - 33:50
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: where they started to keep talking and so on.
33:50 - 33:52
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: African leave-taking disorder, which
33:52 - 33:57
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: names her children everywhere trying to come back together
33:57 - 33:59
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: and talk.
33:59 - 34:06
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
34:06 - 34:09
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Ars poetica number 23, whassup G?
34:09 - 34:12
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[laughter]
34:12 - 34:16
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: From the Latin, negorum, meaning to tote,
34:16 - 34:20
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: said Richard Pryor in an etymological mode.
34:20 - 34:25
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Look it up in Cab Calloway's Hebster's Dictionary,
34:25 - 34:27
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: that giant book.
34:27 - 34:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Be negro, be groid, be vernacular, be.
34:30 - 34:33
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Hey yo, hey bro, hey blood, high five, big ups,
34:33 - 34:35
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: give me some skin, keep it on the QT,
34:35 - 34:38
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: the down low, the real side.
34:38 - 34:41
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: What it is, what it look like, vernacular, verna,
34:41 - 34:52
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: house-born slave. Ask your mama what it means. Old-school line signifying that chick has a chemical deficiency. No ass-at-all.
34:52 - 34:57
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[laughter]
34:57 - 35:07
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: And who knows on the radio, who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men. The shadow do quote the brethren and fall out. Capalacking
35:07 - 35:12
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: and slapping. High top fade to black.
35:12 - 35:20
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
35:20 - 35:26
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: For Kwame, of course, Ars Poetica number 92, Marcus Garvey on Elocution.
35:26 - 35:35
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Elocution means to speak out, that is to say, if you have a tale to tell, tell it, and tell it well.
35:35 - 35:39
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: This I was taught.
35:39 - 35:42
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: To speak properly, you must have sound and good teeth.
35:42 - 35:43
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: You must have clear nostrils.
35:43 - 35:45
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Your lungs must be sound.
35:45 - 35:48
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Never try to make a speech on a hungry stomach.
35:48 - 35:51
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Don't chew your words, but talk them out plainly.
35:51 - 35:54
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Always see that your clothing is properly arranged
35:54 - 35:56
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: before you get on a platform.
35:56 - 35:59
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: You should not make any mistake in pronouncing your words,
35:59 - 36:04
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: because that invites amusement for certain people.
36:04 - 36:10
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: To realize I was trained for this, expected to speak out,
36:10 - 36:14
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: to speak well, to realize my family believed
36:14 - 36:18
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: I would have words for others.
36:18 - 36:21
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: An untidy leader is always a failure.
36:21 - 36:24
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: A leader's hair should always be well kept.
36:24 - 36:27
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: His teeth must also be in perfect order.
36:27 - 36:30
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Your shoes and other garments must also be clean.
36:30 - 36:34
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: If you look ragged, people will not trust you.
36:34 - 36:39
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: My father's shoe shine box, black kiwi, corduvan kiwi,
36:39 - 36:43
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: the cloths, the lamb's wool brush.
36:43 - 36:48
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: My grandmother's dressing table, potions for disciplining anything,
36:48 - 36:50
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: scrabble or scry.
36:50 - 36:55
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: For goodness sake, always speak out, said Marcus Garvey,
36:55 - 36:59
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: said my parents, said my grandparents, and meant it.
36:59 - 37:06
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
[applause]
37:06 - 37:08
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Ars Poetica number 56,
37:08 - 37:10
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Bullfrogs Was Falling Out of the Sky.
37:10 - 37:15
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: And that's a quote from Houdini Brown, Muhammad Ali's trainer.
37:17 - 37:20
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Not frogs, but bullfrogs, not rain, but fat rain, not Congo,
37:20 - 37:24
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: but Zaire and Mobutu Sese Seko.
37:24 - 37:31
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Mobutu Sese Seko, his solid gold toilet seat, leopard skin fez, international airstrip.
37:31 - 37:37
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Not stealing but plundering, not Congo Zaire, not Drew but Bundini, not Baptist but Jew,
37:37 - 37:43
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: not Cassius Muhammad, not Jesus but Allah, the Quran, the Bible, the Bible is black.
37:43 - 37:53
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Do like it says on the mayonnaise jar, keep cool but do not freeze.
37:53 - 37:59
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Not Afro but Africa, booty but plunder, rain that astonishes rain-like bullfrogs.
37:59 - 38:08
Circle Jam and Cave Canem Reunion Reading, 2004 September 25, Tape 2 [UA0017-DVCAM-0060] [Transcript]
Elizabeth Alexander: Mobutu, Mobutu, both booty and plunder. Oh Africa, Africa, God in the rain.