"No, Kanye, it's not LIKE we're mentally in prison" by Erica Dawson

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend March 29, 2019   No, Kanye, it's not LIKE we're mentally in prison   Erica Dawson

for my grandfather   We don't have heirlooms. Haven't owned things long enough. We're      hoarding us in our stories.                        Like October 26—the Oklahoma Quick Stop gas at 90¢ and, in 158 more days,   Passion of the Christ in a wildlife refuge with Rabbits foot and Black Capped birds—when Edgar Whetstone shoots   himself. Like August 4, 1919. Like Ada Willis births the boy conceived with Boy gone somewhere. Like her prayers and      circa 10 years past and Mr. Charlie saying, Edgar reads (you call that clean?)   but please, girl, coloreds don't become doctors. Like Edgar trashed his books. Like served, discharged. Like funeral   director close to doctor as it got.                Formaldehyde wrecked      him like Time to get up out the South Detroit inspect dynamics burn a house down torch the county jail.           Like now, October. Like I      found,   searching the internet, one shot of the asylum's blurry hall empty but for an organ's pipes.   I saw Edgar deluding hymns rousing the two of us in Rock of Ages followed by Philippians 1:21—to die is gain. No way to prove the claim, you die in dream, you die for real.   Our family still hanged from trees. Like if they ever fall, no one will hear it someday for a while.            Copyright © 2019 by Erica Dawson. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on March 29, 2019, by the Academy of American Poets. About This Poem   "I've wanted to tell my grandfather's story for years, hoping to bring attention to the mental traumas Black Americans experience, every day, because of our country's systemic racism. We often speak about violence against the Black body. I wanted to focus on violence against the mind." —Erica Dawson   Erica Dawson is the author of three books of poetry, including her most recent When Rap Spoke Straight to God (Tin House, 2018) and The Small Blades Hurt (Measure Press, 2014). She directs the low-residency MFA program at the University of Tampa and lives in Tampa, Florida. Photo Credit: Kevin Kelii Poetry by Dawson   When Rap Spoke Straight to God (Tin House, 2018) "The Tradition" by Jericho Brown "All the Trees of the Field Shall Clap Their Hands" by Eduardo C. Corral "Facing US" by Amanda Johnston March Guest Editor: Maggie Smith   Thanks to Maggie Smith, author of Good Bones (Tupelo Press, 2017), who curated Poem-a-Day for this month's weekdays. Read a Q&A with Smith about her curatorial approach this month and find out more about our guest editors for the year. Thanks for being a part of the Academy of American Poets community. To learn about other programs, including National Poetry Month, Poem in Your Pocket Day, the annual Poets Forum, and more, visit Poets.org.   You are receiving this e-mail because you elected to subscribe to our mailing list. If you would like to unsubscribe, please click here.   © Academy of American Poets 75 Maiden Lane, Suite 901, New York, NY 10038

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