"Words" by John Keene

View this email on a browser Forward to a friend February 27, 2018   Words   John Keene

When you said people did you mean punish?          When you said friend did you mean fraud? When you said thought did you mean terror?          When you said connection did you mean con? When you said God did you mean greed?          When you said faith did you mean fanatic? When you said hope did you mean hype?          When you said unity did you mean enmity? When you said freedom did you mean forfeit?          When you said law did you mean lie? When you said truth did you mean treason?          When you said feeling did you mean fool? When you said together did you mean token?          When you said desire did you mean desert? When you said sex did you mean savagery?          When you said need did you mean nought? When you said blood did you mean bought?          When you said heart did you you hard? When you said head did you mean hide?          When you said health did you mean hurt? When you said love did you mean loss?          When you said fate did you mean fight? When you said destiny did you mean decimate?          When you said honor did you mean hunger? When you said bread did you mean broke?          When you said feast did you mean fast? When you said first did you mean forgotten?          When you said last did you mean least? When you said woman did you mean wither?          When you said man did you mean master? When you said mother did you mean smother?          When you said father did you mean fatal? When you said sister did you mean surrender?          When you said brother did you mean brutal? When you said fellow did you mean follow?          When you said couple did you mean capital? When you said family did you mean failure?          When you said mankind did you mean market? When you said society did you mean sickness?          When you said democracy did you mean indignity? When you said equality did you mean empty?          When you said politics did you mean power? When you said left did you mean lost?          When you said right did you mean might? When you said republic did you mean rich?          When you said wealthy did you mean wall? When you said poor did you mean prison?          When you said justice did you mean just us? When you said immigrant did you mean enemy?          When you said refugee did you mean refusal? When you said earth did you mean ownership?          When you said soil did you mean oil? When you said community did you mean conflict?          When you said safety did you mean suspicion? When you said security did you mean sabotage?          When you said army did you mean Armageddon? When you said white did you mean welcome?          When you said black did you mean back? When you said yellow did you mean yield?          When you said brown did you mean down? When you said we did you mean war?          When you said you did you mean useless? When you said she did you mean suffer?          When you said he did you mean horror? When you said they did you mean threat?          When you said I did you mean island? When you said tribe did you mean trouble?          When you said name did you mean nobody? When you said news did you mean nonsense?          When you said media did you mean miasma? When you said success did you mean sucker?          When you said fame did you mean game? When you said ideal did you mean idol?          When you said yesterday did you mean travesty? When you said today did you mean doomsday?          When you said tomorrow did you mean never? When you said hear did you mean hush?          When you said listen did you mean limit? When you said write did you mean wound?          When you said read did you mean retreat? When you said literacy did you mean apathy?          When you said fiction did you mean forget? When you said poetry did you mean passivity?             When you say art do you mean act?                Copyright © 2018 John Keene. Used with permission of the author. About This Poem   "I initially conceived this poem while participating in Vulnerable Rumble, an amazing reading-performance organized by Laura Goldstein, Jennifer Karmin, and Laura Mullen, as part of the Red Rover Series at OuterSpace Studios in Chicago in January 2014. In the midst of the excellent poetry everyone was reading, I thought carefully about where the United States was in 2014 and where we might be heading. I started to mull over how we have been struggling to communicate with and understand one another—even at the level of basic language and art-making. We have misvalued and disvalued the power of words and their social, political, and economic meanings and effects. From this kernel I drafted the poem and, learning quite a bit from an Italian translator's attempts to wrangle it into that language, I have revised it over the last couple of years." —John Keene   John Keene's most recent poetry collection is Playland (Seven Kitchens Press, 2016). Also a fiction writer, he chairs the department of African American and African studies and teaches English and creative writing at Rutgers University–Newark. He lives in Jersey City, New Jersey.     Photo credit: Nina Subin Most Recent Book by Keene   Counternarratives (New Directions Publishing, 2016) "If you look closely enough at a word, you'll find it contains its opposite*" by Stephanie Gray "A Short Note to My Very Critical and Well-Beloved Friends and Comrades" by June Jordan "Aubade to Langston" by Rachel Eliza Griffiths February Guest Editor: Dawn Lundy Martin   Thanks to Dawn Lundy Martin, author of Good Stock Strange Blood (Coffee House Press, 2017), who curated Poem-a-Day this month. Read more about Martin and our other guest editors for the year. Help Support Poem-a-Day   If you value Poem-a-Day, please consider a monthly donation or one-time gift to help make it possible. Poem-a-Day is the only digital series publishing new, previously unpublished work by today's poets each weekday morning. The free series, which also features a curated selection of classic poems on weekends, reaches 450,000+ readers daily. Thank you! 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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