By Button Poetry
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RJ Walker, performing at Rustbelt 2019 in Saint Louis, MO.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:03
Me brick.
00:07
Brick is good at being brick.
00:11
Brick graduated magna cum laude from Brick University,
00:17
where brick learned how to be brick.
00:20
(inhales) Sit still.
00:22
(inhales) Not move.
00:25
(inhales) Not move even when pushed.
00:28
Brick major in shelter,
00:31
minor in heaviness.
00:33
Brick always wanted to be part of ice cream store.
00:37
Brick love pistachio ice cream even if brick lactose intolerant
00:43
and mildly allergic to nuts.
00:45
Brick like to watch children have carnival faces and smile eyes.
00:53
Then man with bad toupee and graveyard for mouth come
00:58
say need brick for project.
01:01
And brick think hotel, brick could be hotel,
01:06
help travel people with rest help escape from hard, hard things.
01:11
Brick could be big tower with sign that say “Welcome.”
01:16
Brick would like that very much.
01:20
But brick not hotel.
01:22
Brick not ice cream store.
01:25
Brick here in big, big wall.
01:27
Brick see children come, no carnival faces, no smile eyes.
01:32
Sometimes paint brick face, ask brick for help.
01:35
Block who live above brick say, “No look, brick.
01:39
Brick not made to look. Brick made to sit still, not move,
01:44
even when pushed.
01:45
This is why called block, made to stop things.”
01:49
But brick had professor from Palestine.
01:52
Brick had grandfather from Berlin.
01:54
Brick know apartheid when brick see it.
01:58
Brick not made to stop things.
02:00
Brick made to start things.
02:02
Brick heavy enough to crack riot shield, heavy enough to shatter patrol car window.
02:06
Toss brick into water,
02:08
see how water rises with the weight of brick.
02:11
Brick want children come with shotgun arm, trebuchet hand.
02:15
Use brick to shatter graveyard man headstone teeth.
02:18
Tie brick to graveyard man tiny orange feet and sink into river.
02:23
Brick see you,
02:26
in wall,
02:28
listening to brick.
02:31
Pretend not to hear,
02:34
not to see,
02:36
not move, even when pushed!
02:41
Brick say be a weapon.
02:45
Brick say be shelter.
02:48
Brick say be pushed.
02:50
Brick say be part of push.
02:54
(cheers and applause)
02:56
♪ (music) ♪
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video