Thank you to Fr. I will not shoot myself In the head, and I will not shoot myself In the back, and I will not hang myself With a trashbag, and if I do, Few would say that the value of poetry inheres in making something happen in the world. I promise that if you hearOf me dead anywhere nearA cop, then that cop killed me. Bullet Points. When I kill me, I will kill me But I promise you, I trust the maggots To shut my eyes like a man Does poetry matter in the face of violence or suffering? And yet their lives, and deaths, breathe in this poem. Jericho Brown does not say their names, or the names of Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Michael Brown. To get home. Each of the three went “viral,” in response, respectively, to the refugee crisis, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the Pulse nightclub shooting. Jericho Brown, "Bullet Points" from The Tradition. Calling worst. Because I have to drive through it And yet their lives, and deaths, breathe in this poem. Or a piece of meat on which I choke In the end of the poem, he says, in so many words, black lives matter. This week I want to offer three poems that I believe speak to the power of poetry to startle and reveal. He tookMe from us and left my body, which is,No matter what we’ve been taught,Greater than the settlement a city canpay to a mother to stop crying, and moreBeautiful than the brand new shiny bulletFished from the folds of my brain, “The world I create in writing compensates for what the real world does not give me.” It can make us see and feel in ways we otherwise wouldn’t; it makes vivid what we might otherwise ignore. When I kill me, I will kill meThe same way most Americans do,I promise you: cigarette smokeOr a piece of meat on which I chokeOr so broke I freezeIn one of these winters we keep Calling worst. Jericho Brown's first book, Please (New Issues, 2008), won the American Book Award, and his second book, The New Testament (Copper Canyon, 2014), was named one of the best poetry books of the year by Library Journal and received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. Associate Professor of English, University of Detroit Mercy I promise you, I will not do it Yes, I may be at risk, His third collection, The Tradition (Copper Canyon,... Of God might, or to cover me with a sheet. I will not shoot myself In the head, and I will not shoot myself In the back, and I will not hang myself With a trashbag, and if I do I promise you, I will not do it In a police car while handcuffed Or in the jail cell of a town I only know the name of To any carcass more than I trust Or in the jail cell of a town Or so broke I freeze Yes, I may be at risk,But I promise you, I trust the maggotsAnd the ants and the roachesWho live beneath the floorboardsOf my house to do what they mustTo any carcass more than I trustAn officer of the law of the landTo shut my eyes like a manOf God might, or to cover me with a sheetSo clean my mother could have used itTo tuck me in. “To imagine a language is to imagine a way of life.” Who live beneath the floorboards Using visceral imagery drawn from recent news about police brutality in America, award-winning poet Jericho Brown dares readers to stare directly into the smoking barrel of what has become a nightmarish reality for far too many people. Bullet Points by Jericho Brown explores hate crimes in America, particularly looking at those of the police against Black Americans. I promise you: cigarette smoke
– Gloria E. Anzaldúa The same way most Americans do, With a trashbag, and if I do To tuck me in. I first read “Bullet Points” on July 7th, one day after Philando Castile was shot to death, two days after Alton Sterling was killed. Can words arranged on a page or spoken alter the facts of war or terror, racism, poverty? I will not shoot myself An officer of the law of the land Executive Director, Rx for Reading Detroit In the head, and I will not shoot myself

John Staudenmaier, S.J. pay to a mother to stop crying, and more Me from us and left my body, which is, Volleyed around the globe, they survive; they are a way of happening. Co-Director, University Honors Program "I wrote the poem, quite honestly, to my mother, and thinking about my mother. I promise that if you hear A cop, then that cop killed me. Bullet Points by Jericho Brown. reader; Poem: "Bullet Points" By Jericho Brown. mc.harrison@udmercy.edu In a police car while handcuffed Greater than the settlement a city can Life is short, though I keep this from my children. Of God might, or to cover me with a sheet They are a mouth that has opened. I first read “Bullet Points” on July 7 th, one day after Philando Castile was shot to death, two days after Alton Sterling was killed. In one of these winters we keep Jericho Brown does not say their names, or the names of Freddie Gray, Sandra Bland, Eric Garner, Michael Brown. Fished from the folds of my brain, Mary-Catherine Harrison, Ph.D. Perhaps they also speak to our renewed need for poetry in a world of too much despair. Today's Word from Fr. Beautiful than the brand new shiny bullet Jericho Brown is author of the The Tradition (Copper Canyon 2019), for which he won the Pulitzer Prize. (313) 993-1081. He took Because if I'm ever found dead in police custody, I would want people to know, I want my family to know, that I hadn't killed myself." I will not shoot myselfIn the head, and I will not shoot myselfIn the back, and I will not hang myselfWith a trashbag, and if I doI promise you, I will not do itIn a police car while handcuffedOr in the jail cell of a townI only know the name ofBecause I have to drive through itTo get home. Copyright © 2019 by Jericho Brown. It is not an easy poem—it is angry, and it is afraid. By Jericho Brown.
Instead, he suggests that if his body is found near the police, it will be their doing. Of my house to do what they must I only know the name of He goes on to say of poetry: “it survives, / A way of happening, a mouth.”. And the ants and the roaches As Auden said elsewhere, “If the criterion of art were its power to incite action, Goebbels would be one of the greatest artists of all time.”  And yet, poetry surely does something. Jericho Brown's first book, Please (New Issues, 2008), won the American Book Award, and his second book, The New Testament (Copper Canyon, 2014), was named one of the best poetry books of the year by Library Journal and received the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award.His third collection, The … Of me dead anywhere near The poet testifies how he will never kill himself in police custody. He is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and he is the winner of the Whiting Award. W. H. Auden, famously, said, “poetry makes nothing happen.”  And yet he wrote those words in a poem, one that honors fellow poet W. B. Yeats. No matter what we’ve been taught,

So clean my mother could have used it In the back, and I will not hang myself – Ludwig Wittgenstein. Staudenmaier for inviting me to share them. Bullet Points I will not shoot myself In the head, and I will not shoot myselfIn the back, and I will not hang myselfWith a trashbag, and if I do, I promise you, I will not do itIn a police car whi POEM A DAY: BULLET POINTS BY JERICHO BROWN – The Poetry Book Society Reprinted by permission of Copper Canyon Press, www.coppercanyonpress.org.

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