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    Elements to Consider When Writing a Black Poem

     

    by Kenyatta Rogers

     

     

    - after Cornelius Eady and Taylor Mali

     

    I

     

    there’s gotta be

    a catchy opening

    a combination of nouns and verbs

    offensive and maybe

    a little derogatory

    such as 

    japslap

    or there’s always my personal favorite

    cumguzzlingutterslut

     

    II

     

    say things like I want to throw a bucket of kittens into a river

    zip tie a cardboard box full of puppies closed and lower it into a well slowly

     

    III

     

    talk about the self

    talk about thinking whether or not to color Santa Claus black in grade school

    mention your prior relationships and how you’ll never really get over what happened with Kate

     

    IV

     

    drop names

     

    fuck if they like it

    they shouldn’t have gotten involved with a poet

     

    V

     

    the poem needs no protection

    but everyone needs protection from the poem

     

    VI

     

    justify random acts of violence by saying

    “I’m a black American poet

    and I have an inability

    to sustain rage”

     

    VII

     

    steal lines

     

    “Life is beautiful”

    Kathleen Rooney

     

    “Moments when you hope God has selective hearing”

    Avery R. Young

     

    “My only fear of death is reincarnation”

    Tupac Amaru Shakur

     

    “This is just to say”

    William Carlos Williams

     

    VIII

     

    respond

     

    why would you eat the plums

    that you knew I was saving for lunch

    then gloat about how good they were

    I think I would have noticed them missing

    when I went go make my fruit salad

    Bill

     

    IX

     

    use imagery

     

    people here carry stones in buckets to throw at plastic houses

    blue flamingos love me too

    the zombie tells me “Life is beautiful”

     

    use repetition

     

    X

     

    crack jokes about black people

    because you’re a black poet you can make fun of black people

     

    Example:

    “My sista…orange hair, orange contact lenses, orange scarf, orange belt, shoes and bag

    is not what’s hot in the street

    or in the club or in your house”

     

    Example:

    “My brotha…I know you got a pair of headphones

    somewhere because I nor anyone else on the train

    want to hear whatever in the fuck is on your phone,

    hell you don’t even wanna hear it,

    that’s why you keep flipping songs so much”

     

    XI

     

    make fun of white people

    because you’re a black poet

    sorry

    because you’re a black person

    you can make fun of white people

     

    Example:

    “it’s too cold for flip flops honey

    it’s still March”

     

    Example:

    “wes anderson? 

    Who the fuck is wes anderson

    you haven’t seen Do the Right Thing

    but I need to see Rushmore

    tell you what

    I bet you I know more people

    who know Wes-ley Snipes

    than you know that know 

    wes anderson”

     

    XII

     

    answer questions sarcastically

    because you’re a black poet

    you can answer questions sarcastically

    “Well…I wash my hair with shampoo and water,

    how did you think it happened?

    Did you think in the shower I become the mystical negro

    sorry

    I’m not John Coffee

    or Bagger Vance

    or Morgan Freeman”

     

    XIII

     

    mention violence again in a nice voice

    “Ok…I’ll mix some ground up glass in your applesauce for you grandpa”

     

     XIV

     

    mention childhood songs that make you happy

    “This is the song that doesn’t end, yes it goes on and on my friends

    some people started singing it not knowing what it was

    and they’ll continue singing it forever just because” (x2)

     

    XV

     

    be dangerous

    make the language given to you dangerous

    make your voice immortal

     

    XVI

     

    raise hell  leave

     

    literally raise hell

     

    XVII

     

    bitchsmack Azazel

     

    bitch betta have my money

    bitchsmack Azazel

     

    grab him by the throat

     

    remind him

     

    “I am

    the best

    writer

    in the

    world

     

    I am a black American poet and

    I have an inability to sustain rage

    and I’ll be damned

    if I go out the same way I came in.”

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