By Button Poetry
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Jay Ward, performing at Rustbelt 2019 in Saint Louis, MO.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:02
This poem is for the black boy who was shot in front of Burger King
00:05
in Charlotte, North Carolina,
00:07
though I will not say his name just for points.
00:11
When I was seven years old, I got stung by a bumblebee for the first time,
00:14
and I saw its body fall to the ground
00:15
because bumblebees always die right after they sting.
00:17
Last week, I was sitting on the back porch with my dog,
00:19
and this giant bee came from underneath the stairs,
00:21
and I swatted that thing right out of the air, y’all,
00:23
because that’s what I taught myself to do in that situation.
00:26
I saw its body fall too.
00:28
I found out later it was actually a carpenter bee–
00:31
harmless, they don’t even have a stinger,
00:33
and immediately there’s a poem begging me to write myself as the cop
00:37
and the bee another unarmed child.
00:39
But wouldn’t that be humanizing the cop and animalizing the victim?
00:42
And haven’t we seen enough of that already?
00:44
And haven’t I already written that poem?
00:45
So, in this poem, the bee is just a bee,
00:48
even if I swore it had a gun,
00:50
even if the mother swears the boy had wings,
00:53
even if the hood swears the b-boy be fly.
00:55
See how pliable sight can be?
00:57
How, with enough effort, one thing can become another thing?
01:00
Like how justice can become a doomsday or a holiday,
01:04
depending on who gets off.
01:06
And I tell myself, “Don’t say their names,”
01:08
but the activist in me says,
01:10
“Say their names or no one else will.”
01:12
The slam poet in me says,
01:13
“Don’t you dare build a score off a deconstructed name.”
01:17
And I won’t, because I know how pliable a name can be,
01:20
meaning, with enough effort, it can become
01:22
my son’s name,
01:24
my daughter’s name.
01:25
It could be mine one day,
01:26
and I know how dangerous a name can be.
01:28
The 10 o’clock news said a name three times,
01:31
and a civil rights organizer disappeared a year later.
01:33
A name protested on film,
01:35
and we all watched the body camera give up the ghost.
01:38
A name is a mouthful of pollen.
01:40
A name is a trending body breakdancing on my news feed.
01:43
And how do you say the name?
01:45
Do you say it like a mother calling her child home?
01:47
Or do you say it like a perfect score at a poetry slam?
01:50
Last week, I felt guilty for reacting to a bee based on perception.
01:54
The bee couldn’t educate me; it was my job to educate myself.
01:57
When I was seven, I saw the bee fall to the ground,
01:59
but I didn’t kill it.
02:00
I mean, it’s dead because of me,
02:02
but it did sting first, right?
02:04
See, the boy just had bright eyes and a curious mind,
02:06
like most carpenter boys who die without ever using the stinger
02:10
that they don’t even have.
02:11
But, like I said, sight is pliable.
02:13
A person can see what they want to see.
02:15
Can you see now
02:17
why we sacrifice animals and insects in our poems
02:19
just to show the value of a real human life?
02:22
Can you see how the burden of proof always denies the body of evidence?
02:26
And isn’t the body supposed to be the evidence?
02:29
If the carpenter gives up his life,
02:31
is there redemption for those who choose not to believe on his falling body?
02:35
The bee was just a bee,
02:37
but the boy…
02:39
his was the name we feared to say
02:41
because of how difficult they can become in the mouth of a mother,
02:44
like boy… fly… home.
02:47
The soft, pliable name that can become joy
02:51
or grief
02:52
or buzzzz-worthy,
02:56
depending on who gets off.
02:59
(man) Let’s go, man!
03:01
(cheers and applause)
03:02
♪ (music) ♪
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video
