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and um

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i am

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very very excited to introduce our next

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presenter

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um

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herbert martin who is a great great

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person emeritus professor of english at

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the university of dayton a wonderful

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poet poet written volumes of poetry

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he is going to be

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reading some of his original poetry

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that's from the

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time period of funk music

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every day of the symposium after lunch i

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think one poem might be at a different

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time

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and he has a

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poetry colleague coming for one reading

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from sinclair college and you can see

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their bios in

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in the program

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i don't need to read bios to you i know

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you can all read i hope you can all read

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although you know our students don't

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read very much i got to say

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and i have teaching colleagues here who

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would agree with me

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um

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so

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this is

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the first poem poetry reading number one

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i dream you harlem a negro soldiers

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vietnam diary

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of course that's the time we're talking

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about

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when the this music was popular

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and um i'm going to ask herb

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to read his poem talk a little bit about

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what it's like

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to be a poet and especially at that time

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period where this poetry was written

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and then afterward i'm going to ask him

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to repeat the poem and here's why

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when i go to a concert where they're

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presenting

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a new piece of music that i've never

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heard before especially if it's a

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contemporary piece

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i always think they should just play it

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again because

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we didn't hear everything the first time

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even like last night i saw summer of

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seoul at the neon that was the second

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time i've seen it i've seen all saw all

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kinds of things i didn't notice the

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first time

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so i'm i've asked him to do that he's

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agreed to do that we have a relaxed time

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in which to do it and he's going to

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stand by the land of funk away sign

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so he knows where he is

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and let's welcome herbert martin

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thank you

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[Applause]

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you're all very kind to come and

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what i will do is i remember going to

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new york as

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many people

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did in those days simply to

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see if i could become famous

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and then

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somebody said along the way

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going to auditions you know if you see

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opportunity

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passing by your apartment you're

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supposed to run out and lock her

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well of course you can't

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say that these days because it's not

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politically correct

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or socially correct

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but that was sort of the way it was you

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had to

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be prepared with whatever discipline

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you had or whatever art you had and then

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you went to the

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readings or to the auditions

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and

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whether or not you had

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prepared enough was the thing that got

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you the part

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and so i thought oh i don't know if i

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can do this i don't know if i can do

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this and so i spent

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most of my time writing and going to

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hear everybody

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who was reading in the village

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and

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following them along the way and so

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that's what i did

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harlem was a

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particularly good place to be

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and you often heard

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it told you that

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two minutes after you were in new york

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city you were a new yorker

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and so

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so i became

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for all intents and purposes a new

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yorker

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i figured out where harlem was

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and

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went to harlem

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and there was this whole conglomeration

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of black people all

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in one place that i had not seen

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since i had left

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birmingham alabama

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in the late 40s

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and i thought oh my goodness everybody's

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here

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and you you sort of talk to yourself

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about all these places and all of these

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people that

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you didn't know but they looked like you

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and so you had a great time sort of

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every saturday i'd go to harlem and

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spend my harlem saturday and then go to

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church on sunday

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part of that was because of the spirit

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of

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adam clayton powell and this poem was

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dedicated to him

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after passed away

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i dream you harlem

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i dream you harlem in a single american

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town

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where the simplest child

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spider webbed in negro hallways

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is not deceived by the democracies of

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love

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where they have broke lightning from the

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ordinary mothering string

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and the old

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the old sit withered in this passive

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bone

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as a major star drives them in frames of

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age

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because i dream you harlem do not be

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deceived

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men break love harder than rock fish or

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water

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children unable to dream remain

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conditional stones do not swim

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fish do not walk

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its

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water maintains its state of insistency

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in common towns harlem

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there are a thousand rooms of

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despondencies no one remembers being

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passive in their bones

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i dream you

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main harlem as a child going with pearl

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eyes desiring in a volley of wind to

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breathe the air purely

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the filament in the hallway pierces plum

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bleak as inexpensive fix

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it lights the way for the child who

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whined for what is not there who weeps

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that a rat has eaten away his

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sister's heart

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that the bed bug drinks his blood

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without restraint

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and the cockroach is unable to feed upon

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morsels too small

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to satisfy his

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human hunger

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do not be

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disturbed or deceived harlem though

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these dreams be single to my

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dreams and sleeping

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now one of the things that i took

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as a kind of metaphor was the city of

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harlem and all that it had to offer to

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all the uh

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people who were landing

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by the minute in harlem and going from

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place to place so harlem becomes a

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signal metaphor

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that i

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adopted

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strangely enough i arrived in dayton

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very soon after

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the supreme court

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read its decision about

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desegregating all the schools

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and they said um let me be sure that i

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have it

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with all deliberate speed

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well one of the things that my father

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did when he left

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alabama

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was to get my mother to follow him a

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month later and two months later i

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followed him

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and the train conductor

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came in and

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they were the black porters

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and they watched over all the little

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kids black kids who were traveling north

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and he came in to the coach and said

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we have just crossed the mesonet dixie

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line

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and i was 12 and a half

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and i said well that's that

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i it took me 20 years before i remember

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that i said and that's that

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because i really did not quite

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understand what he was telling me

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but i knew that i had gone

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somewhere different

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and i was starting life all over again

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[Music]

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and

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when he said that i thought that must be

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a line of poetry somewhere in

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one of my poems and so i held on to with

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all deliberate speed well what i heard

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the white people excuse me for saying is

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that

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that

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they were going to be very deliberate

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about the speed that they took

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to integrate the schools

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and i thought isn't that strange

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the lawyers

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said we should do this

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quickly get the government

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and the people in birmingham said

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deliberate speech means that we can take

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our time

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so so that's why this poem uh shows up

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in my um

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[Music]

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i think it's the fourth volume or

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thereabout i've forgotten now because

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there's

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anyway

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it's

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a negro soldier who has been sent off to

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vietnam

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and so

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that's the title of the poem a negro

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soldier's vietnam diary

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the day he discovered a mother and child

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in the river he wrote

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they had been there a month

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the water had begun to tear them apart

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the mother had not relaxed even in death

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she held to her child

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i lured my gun into the water and walked

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away

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my stomach screamed empty there was

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nothing there

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with what little warm water i had it

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would not pile it away the mud and

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stench

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it was like a dead body we could not

268
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discover

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death hangs on

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to the rice the ground is watered with

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blood

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the land

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bears no fruit

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grass is an amenity it is a luxury

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forever to notice so much as a flower or

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clear water in the stream

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bullets here kill with the same

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deliberate speed that you at home

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fear destroys the thing it is

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unacquainted with i never want to kill

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again

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do not celebrate me when and if i come

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home

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i step around the smallest creatures

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these days i am cautious to pray i am

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cautious to believe the day will come

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when we can take up our sharing with

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deliberate speed

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have you prayed lately

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for that

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uh i didn't go to the war

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because

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one foot was longer than the other and i

294
00:12:01,680 --> 00:12:08,079
don't know how they decided that

295
00:12:04,399 --> 00:12:11,279
but they did and so i i thought well i'm

296
00:12:08,079 --> 00:12:15,200
kind of lucky for not having to

297
00:12:11,279 --> 00:12:17,440
participate in this war but i imagine

298
00:12:15,200 --> 00:12:18,560
what the black soul do

299
00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:20,079
was

300
00:12:18,560 --> 00:12:21,680
in vietnam

301
00:12:20,079 --> 00:12:24,639
fighting and

302
00:12:21,680 --> 00:12:25,680
not really wanting to be there at all i

303
00:12:24,639 --> 00:12:27,519
think

304
00:12:25,680 --> 00:12:30,240
but if you have some questions about

305
00:12:27,519 --> 00:12:30,240
that i can

306
00:12:30,800 --> 00:12:34,720
tell you i

307
00:12:32,160 --> 00:12:34,720
try to

308
00:12:35,120 --> 00:12:39,839
put in my

309
00:12:36,839 --> 00:12:42,160
poems as many

310
00:12:39,839 --> 00:12:43,920
black people as possible

311
00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:46,560
because they were not

312
00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:49,760
celebrated

313
00:12:46,560 --> 00:12:51,600
i think when i came north

314
00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,560
all the black people and all the black

315
00:12:51,600 --> 00:12:55,760
poets

316
00:12:52,560 --> 00:12:57,760
disappeared from the textbook they just

317
00:12:55,760 --> 00:13:00,160
they weren't there anymore

318
00:12:57,760 --> 00:13:03,200
because we were in the north and

319
00:13:00,160 --> 00:13:04,079
uh by the way the people who made the

320
00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:06,399
books

321
00:13:04,079 --> 00:13:09,120
for the lord for white and the people

322
00:13:06,399 --> 00:13:11,760
who made the books for the uh black

323
00:13:09,120 --> 00:13:14,079
students in the south were black

324
00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:16,639
uh and so black people got into the

325
00:13:14,079 --> 00:13:19,040
textbooks in the south but not in the

326
00:13:16,639 --> 00:13:21,680
north and that was one of the

327
00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:24,639
things that i had to remember

328
00:13:21,680 --> 00:13:26,800
when i came he came north

329
00:13:24,639 --> 00:13:27,839
i'm telling you more about my life than

330
00:13:26,800 --> 00:13:29,600
i know

331
00:13:27,839 --> 00:13:31,760
but it's very interesting because it

332
00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:33,760
relates to what you write

333
00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:36,320
and i have one comment and one question

334
00:13:33,760 --> 00:13:38,399
and then i'll open the floor my comment

335
00:13:36,320 --> 00:13:39,360
is that the mason dixon line

336
00:13:38,399 --> 00:13:41,760
really

337
00:13:39,360 --> 00:13:44,240
didn't mean much i grew up in baltimore

338
00:13:41,760 --> 00:13:45,440
maryland in the 50s and 60s and i'm here

339
00:13:44,240 --> 00:13:47,279
to tell you

340
00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:49,519
if there was nothing more racist than

341
00:13:47,279 --> 00:13:52,000
that city

342
00:13:49,519 --> 00:13:53,519
and segregated schools and everything

343
00:13:52,000 --> 00:13:55,600
that you can imagine

344
00:13:53,519 --> 00:13:57,920
and i experienced a lot of it and it was

345
00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:59,760
segregated many many ways even by

346
00:13:57,920 --> 00:14:00,480
religion and that was a time when there

347
00:13:59,760 --> 00:14:02,480
were

348
00:14:00,480 --> 00:14:05,279
religious quotas for going to college

349
00:14:02,480 --> 00:14:07,440
for example or going to private schools

350
00:14:05,279 --> 00:14:08,240
if you could get in at all

351
00:14:07,440 --> 00:14:10,240
um

352
00:14:08,240 --> 00:14:12,320
the other thing is that

353
00:14:10,240 --> 00:14:14,000
i'm wondering every time i hear you read

354
00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:16,480
first of all you're a fantastic reader

355
00:14:14,000 --> 00:14:19,279
of your poetry how long does it take you

356
00:14:16,480 --> 00:14:21,920
to write one poem are they all different

357
00:14:19,279 --> 00:14:24,240
or is it they're all different and uh

358
00:14:21,920 --> 00:14:25,040
strangely enough

359
00:14:24,240 --> 00:14:26,160
i

360
00:14:25,040 --> 00:14:28,399
write

361
00:14:26,160 --> 00:14:30,720
in the middle of the night

362
00:14:28,399 --> 00:14:33,680
because the house doesn't want anything

363
00:14:30,720 --> 00:14:35,760
and my relatives don't want anything

364
00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:39,839
uh and so everybody who lives in the

365
00:14:35,760 --> 00:14:43,120
house goes to sleep about 10 or 11

366
00:14:39,839 --> 00:14:46,639
and so and nobody calls anymore so

367
00:14:43,120 --> 00:14:49,199
that's fine and i can write until

368
00:14:46,639 --> 00:14:51,680
one two or three in the morning and then

369
00:14:49,199 --> 00:14:54,240
i gotta sleep until ten

370
00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:57,120
and uh because i'm lazy that's because

371
00:14:54,240 --> 00:14:59,120
you're retired i'm retired and so i can

372
00:14:57,120 --> 00:15:02,000
avoid to sleep late

373
00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:05,440
uh and so all of those things sort of it

374
00:15:02,000 --> 00:15:06,880
informs the apollo but i think uh i

375
00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:09,440
think i heard

376
00:15:06,880 --> 00:15:10,560
gwendolyn brooks say the muse walks by

377
00:15:09,440 --> 00:15:11,519
your house

378
00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,120
and

379
00:15:11,519 --> 00:15:16,000
deposits

380
00:15:13,120 --> 00:15:18,160
and inspiration in the house you have to

381
00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:20,800
pay attention to it and you have to make

382
00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:23,680
it better than anything else that you've

383
00:15:20,800 --> 00:15:25,839
already written because the muse is

384
00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:28,560
pickle and she goes on to the next

385
00:15:25,839 --> 00:15:31,440
forward and the next poet and the next

386
00:15:28,560 --> 00:15:34,240
word and so you don't want to just write

387
00:15:31,440 --> 00:15:37,040
what she says but you want to change it

388
00:15:34,240 --> 00:15:40,720
in some way so i'm

389
00:15:37,040 --> 00:15:42,959
up at night changing whatever it is the

390
00:15:40,720 --> 00:15:44,880
the view says so it doesn't matter if

391
00:15:42,959 --> 00:15:47,360
you move you buy a new house or move

392
00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:49,839
somewhere else you're still amused

393
00:15:47,360 --> 00:15:52,839
i'm still going to do it because

394
00:15:49,839 --> 00:15:56,160
i think that she said you're supposed to

395
00:15:52,839 --> 00:15:57,199
write and so how many volumes have you

396
00:15:56,160 --> 00:15:59,360
written

397
00:15:57,199 --> 00:16:03,040
now it's 11.

398
00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:05,680
and i'm working on 12 13 and 14

399
00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:08,320
right now because i have that many

400
00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:11,519
manuscripts and i'm trying to put them

401
00:16:08,320 --> 00:16:11,519
in some kind of order

402
00:16:12,000 --> 00:16:17,120
i put

403
00:16:13,199 --> 00:16:19,279
together a small chat book

404
00:16:17,120 --> 00:16:22,079
and it's about rwanda

405
00:16:19,279 --> 00:16:24,240
and the ethnic cleansing

406
00:16:22,079 --> 00:16:25,680
and then my mother-in-law came to live

407
00:16:24,240 --> 00:16:29,040
with us

408
00:16:25,680 --> 00:16:32,320
and i became her principal

409
00:16:29,040 --> 00:16:34,959
driver i took her to the daycare and

410
00:16:32,320 --> 00:16:37,519
then to the rest home

411
00:16:34,959 --> 00:16:39,519
you know finding one last thing she said

412
00:16:37,519 --> 00:16:40,800
because i don't think she liked the

413
00:16:39,519 --> 00:16:43,199
wrestle

414
00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:45,199
and she said are you coming tomorrow to

415
00:16:43,199 --> 00:16:48,000
take me home with you

416
00:16:45,199 --> 00:16:51,040
and i remember that and you sort of

417
00:16:48,000 --> 00:16:52,079
haunt me and it's in a poem somewhere

418
00:16:51,040 --> 00:16:53,759
that

419
00:16:52,079 --> 00:16:57,360
beneath so i put

420
00:16:53,759 --> 00:17:00,560
rwanda and alzheimer's together

421
00:16:57,360 --> 00:17:04,799
how alzheimer's takes away the memory

422
00:17:00,560 --> 00:17:06,799
and there you are and i wrote

423
00:17:04,799 --> 00:17:10,079
13 poems

424
00:17:06,799 --> 00:17:11,520
uh dedicated to bitty and then

425
00:17:10,079 --> 00:17:15,120
ten poems

426
00:17:11,520 --> 00:17:17,839
doing the uh ethnic cleansing in rwanda

427
00:17:15,120 --> 00:17:19,439
and they just put them together

428
00:17:17,839 --> 00:17:21,360
and i cuz

429
00:17:19,439 --> 00:17:24,480
and then i called it

430
00:17:21,360 --> 00:17:26,959
things that will kill you

431
00:17:24,480 --> 00:17:28,640
so that's the title so now i'm gonna

432
00:17:26,959 --> 00:17:30,240
find a publisher

433
00:17:28,640 --> 00:17:31,919
who's willing to

434
00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:34,160
invest in that

435
00:17:31,919 --> 00:17:35,760
but that's the hardest part

436
00:17:34,160 --> 00:17:38,559
the poems come

437
00:17:35,760 --> 00:17:41,120
and then i revise them and revise them

438
00:17:38,559 --> 00:17:43,280
if i send it out and it comes back i

439
00:17:41,120 --> 00:17:46,000
know something's wrong with it there's a

440
00:17:43,280 --> 00:17:48,640
sentence that's not right there's a verb

441
00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:50,880
that's not right or something isn't

442
00:17:48,640 --> 00:17:52,960
wrong with it or they wouldn't

443
00:17:50,880 --> 00:17:55,280
send it back so

444
00:17:52,960 --> 00:17:57,440
you know that's vanity talking now

445
00:17:55,280 --> 00:17:59,440
because that's how i work

446
00:17:57,440 --> 00:18:02,080
other questions or comments this is your

447
00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:05,120
chance to get to see a real poet very

448
00:18:02,080 --> 00:18:07,360
often in person

449
00:18:05,120 --> 00:18:07,360
yes

450
00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:18,400
i don't know much about um the rwanda

451
00:18:16,640 --> 00:18:21,360
genocide

452
00:18:18,400 --> 00:18:23,610
and i was growing up in north carolina

453
00:18:21,360 --> 00:18:25,039
and then i moved to washington dc so

454
00:18:23,610 --> 00:18:26,640
[Music]

455
00:18:25,039 --> 00:18:30,320
in north carolina we had the black

456
00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:32,720
schools and then in dc we did have some

457
00:18:30,320 --> 00:18:35,120
white students but we weren't heavily

458
00:18:32,720 --> 00:18:37,520
segregated so what do you think the

459
00:18:35,120 --> 00:18:39,120
effects of the genocide or the

460
00:18:37,520 --> 00:18:40,640
segregation have had on black

461
00:18:39,120 --> 00:18:43,280
communities

462
00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:44,799
i think you know one of the things i was

463
00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:45,919
amazed that

464
00:18:44,799 --> 00:18:47,919
they had

465
00:18:45,919 --> 00:18:49,600
in rwanda

466
00:18:47,919 --> 00:18:52,240
black people

467
00:18:49,600 --> 00:18:55,520
exterminating other black people and i

468
00:18:52,240 --> 00:18:57,039
couldn't quite wrap my mind around that

469
00:18:55,520 --> 00:18:58,160
because uh

470
00:18:57,039 --> 00:18:59,039
you know

471
00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:02,000
life

472
00:18:59,039 --> 00:19:03,520
however difficult it is it's precious it

473
00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:05,200
comes

474
00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:08,000
and it's gone

475
00:19:05,200 --> 00:19:10,480
uh and i have to uh

476
00:19:08,000 --> 00:19:12,559
you know i get up in the morning and i

477
00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:14,640
thank the lord

478
00:19:12,559 --> 00:19:17,919
that i lived

479
00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:20,160
four years longer than uh

480
00:19:17,919 --> 00:19:22,160
the general but

481
00:19:20,160 --> 00:19:24,960
poland colin powell

482
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:28,320
i thought oh i had four more years on

483
00:19:24,960 --> 00:19:28,320
the game how was it

484
00:19:28,480 --> 00:19:32,799
i get four more years

485
00:19:30,559 --> 00:19:34,400
and then i think although the dead

486
00:19:32,799 --> 00:19:36,080
people are asking what are you doing

487
00:19:34,400 --> 00:19:38,480
with those pointers

488
00:19:36,080 --> 00:19:39,360
you know are you creating something and

489
00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:43,760
so

490
00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:44,880
uh that that troubled me um i was happy

491
00:19:43,760 --> 00:19:46,160
when

492
00:19:44,880 --> 00:19:48,799
they just

493
00:19:46,160 --> 00:19:51,039
they segregated the schools and i

494
00:19:48,799 --> 00:19:51,039
thought

495
00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:57,280
my mother said go on go to school

496
00:19:54,799 --> 00:19:59,520
do it do it

497
00:19:57,280 --> 00:20:01,840
and i realized

498
00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:04,080
why she kept saying that

499
00:20:01,840 --> 00:20:07,600
she went to the third grade

500
00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:09,679
and my father went to the fourth grade

501
00:20:07,600 --> 00:20:10,880
well i was the one who went to the 12th

502
00:20:09,679 --> 00:20:12,080
grade

503
00:20:10,880 --> 00:20:14,559
okay

504
00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:17,280
we got to 12th grade

505
00:20:14,559 --> 00:20:18,880
there's a college

506
00:20:17,280 --> 00:20:20,960
and i said oh

507
00:20:18,880 --> 00:20:22,799
are you gonna help me pay for it no she

508
00:20:20,960 --> 00:20:25,120
said you can stay in my house

509
00:20:22,799 --> 00:20:26,720
you can read you can eat

510
00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:30,720
you could sleep here

511
00:20:26,720 --> 00:20:32,000
i don't have any more money in you

512
00:20:30,720 --> 00:20:35,840
okay

513
00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:35,840
so i got myself a lawnmower

514
00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:40,320
and i mowed grass

515
00:20:38,640 --> 00:20:42,799
and you would not believe it i could

516
00:20:40,320 --> 00:20:44,080
smell grass when i wasn't even

517
00:20:42,799 --> 00:20:46,799
cutting it

518
00:20:44,080 --> 00:20:49,440
it was just water

519
00:20:46,799 --> 00:20:51,280
but i made enough money to pay for the

520
00:20:49,440 --> 00:20:53,440
first semester

521
00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:56,799
so then i went and worked at the post

522
00:20:53,440 --> 00:21:00,000
office delivering mail

523
00:20:56,799 --> 00:21:03,120
i paid for the second semester

524
00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:04,799
i paid my way through college that way

525
00:21:03,120 --> 00:21:08,400
and i wasn't

526
00:21:04,799 --> 00:21:10,320
you know too tired i just did it

527
00:21:08,400 --> 00:21:11,840
that's what you got to do

528
00:21:10,320 --> 00:21:14,159
earn this money

529
00:21:11,840 --> 00:21:15,200
pay these people they will teach you

530
00:21:14,159 --> 00:21:18,080
this

531
00:21:15,200 --> 00:21:19,840
you will learn this my mother said once

532
00:21:18,080 --> 00:21:21,919
you get it they can't take it away from

533
00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:24,960
you once you get it

534
00:21:21,919 --> 00:21:26,880
you know it's up here that's it and so

535
00:21:24,960 --> 00:21:28,720
that's what i've been doing for load

536
00:21:26,880 --> 00:21:32,400
these

537
00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:34,159
did you figure out how old that was yeah

538
00:21:32,400 --> 00:21:36,240
these 88 years

539
00:21:34,159 --> 00:21:36,240
old

540
00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:41,840
no i just keep going could you could you

541
00:21:39,760 --> 00:21:44,640
read both poems one more time and then

542
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:48,280
we'll go on to andrea floyd

543
00:21:44,640 --> 00:21:48,280
thank you so much

544
00:21:59,280 --> 00:22:03,120
the spirit is always moving

545
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:10,400
walk together children don't you get

546
00:22:06,640 --> 00:22:12,720
weary you walk together children don't

547
00:22:10,400 --> 00:22:15,679
you get tired

548
00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:18,640
walk together children don't you get a

549
00:22:15,679 --> 00:22:22,080
weary there's a great camp meeting in

550
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:22,080
the promised land

551
00:22:23,039 --> 00:22:28,320
i dream you harlem

552
00:22:25,200 --> 00:22:31,520
i dream you harlem in a single american

553
00:22:28,320 --> 00:22:34,640
town where the simplest child spider

554
00:22:31,520 --> 00:22:37,039
webbed in negro hallways is not deceived

555
00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:40,799
by democracies of love

556
00:22:37,039 --> 00:22:44,080
where they are broke lightning from the

557
00:22:40,799 --> 00:22:45,520
ordinary mothering string and the old

558
00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:48,799
the old

559
00:22:45,520 --> 00:22:49,919
sit withered in their passive bone

560
00:22:48,799 --> 00:22:52,840
as they

561
00:22:49,919 --> 00:22:56,400
make their search for

562
00:22:52,840 --> 00:22:59,520
tomorrow because i dream you harlem do

563
00:22:56,400 --> 00:23:02,080
not be deceived men break love harder

564
00:22:59,520 --> 00:23:05,200
than rock fish or water

565
00:23:02,080 --> 00:23:06,559
children unable to dream remain

566
00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:08,159
conditional

567
00:23:06,559 --> 00:23:13,120
stones

568
00:23:08,159 --> 00:23:15,919
stones do not swim fish do not walk

569
00:23:13,120 --> 00:23:17,360
water maintains the state of its

570
00:23:15,919 --> 00:23:20,159
consistency

571
00:23:17,360 --> 00:23:22,799
in common towns harlem there are a

572
00:23:20,159 --> 00:23:26,240
thousand rooms of despondencies

573
00:23:22,799 --> 00:23:27,120
no one remembers being passive in their

574
00:23:26,240 --> 00:23:28,559
bone

575
00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:32,640
i dream you

576
00:23:28,559 --> 00:23:36,240
main harlem as a child going with pearl

577
00:23:32,640 --> 00:23:39,840
eyes desiring in a volley of wind to

578
00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:42,640
breathe the air purely the filament in

579
00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:46,640
the hallway pierces plum

580
00:23:42,640 --> 00:23:49,600
bleak as inexpensive picks it lights the

581
00:23:46,640 --> 00:23:53,919
way for the child who whines for what is

582
00:23:49,600 --> 00:23:56,240
not there who weeps that a rat has eaten

583
00:23:53,919 --> 00:23:59,679
away his sister's heart

584
00:23:56,240 --> 00:24:01,279
that the bedbug drinks his blood without

585
00:23:59,679 --> 00:24:04,880
restraint

586
00:24:01,279 --> 00:24:09,039
and the cockroach is able to feed upon

587
00:24:04,880 --> 00:24:10,799
morsels too small to satisfy his small

588
00:24:09,039 --> 00:24:13,440
human hunger

589
00:24:10,799 --> 00:24:15,440
do not be deceived harlem

590
00:24:13,440 --> 00:24:20,480
though these dreams

591
00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:20,480
be single to my sleeping

592
00:24:21,919 --> 00:24:26,640
a negro soldier's vietnam diary

593
00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:32,559
the day he discovered a mother and child

594
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:35,679
in the river he wrote

595
00:24:32,559 --> 00:24:38,880
they had been there a month the water

596
00:24:35,679 --> 00:24:42,640
had begun to tear them apart the mother

597
00:24:38,880 --> 00:24:44,159
had not relaxed even in death she held

598
00:24:42,640 --> 00:24:47,760
to a child

599
00:24:44,159 --> 00:24:48,720
i lowered my gun into the water walked

600
00:24:47,760 --> 00:24:52,080
away

601
00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:53,919
my stomach screamed empty there was

602
00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:56,960
nothing there

603
00:24:53,919 --> 00:24:58,080
what little water i had would not pile

604
00:24:56,960 --> 00:25:03,200
it away

605
00:24:58,080 --> 00:25:06,159
the mud or stench it was like a body

606
00:25:03,200 --> 00:25:09,919
that could not be discovered

607
00:25:06,159 --> 00:25:13,200
death hangs on the rice the ground is

608
00:25:09,919 --> 00:25:17,679
watered with blood the land bears no

609
00:25:13,200 --> 00:25:18,559
fruit grass is an amenity it is a luxury

610
00:25:17,679 --> 00:25:22,640
so

611
00:25:18,559 --> 00:25:26,080
forever to notice a flower or clear

612
00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:28,720
water in a stream bullets here kill with

613
00:25:26,080 --> 00:25:29,919
the same deliberate speed that they do

614
00:25:28,720 --> 00:25:32,720
at home

615
00:25:29,919 --> 00:25:34,400
fear destroys the thing it is

616
00:25:32,720 --> 00:25:36,880
unaccounted with

617
00:25:34,400 --> 00:25:39,760
i never want to kill again

618
00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:42,720
do not celebrate me when and if i come

619
00:25:39,760 --> 00:25:45,679
home i step around the smallest

620
00:25:42,720 --> 00:25:49,120
creatures these days i am cautious to

621
00:25:45,679 --> 00:25:50,240
pray i am cautious to believe the day

622
00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:53,279
will come

623
00:25:50,240 --> 00:25:56,799
when we can take up our sharing again

624
00:25:53,279 --> 00:25:59,679
with deliberate speed have you prayed

625
00:25:56,799 --> 00:26:03,320
lately for that

626
00:25:59,679 --> 00:26:03,320
thank you very much

627
00:26:03,820 --> 00:26:10,289
[Applause]