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that's a fantastic clip. kinda makes me think we should organize little carnival booths everywhere we are and film the proceedings---maybe offer shoes for free or something---no reason not to join in on the fun and excitement.
this remains the only unequivocal aspect of all this.
an aside:
i kinda like elizabeth alexander's reading--not so much the whole of her poem--but the way she read, with emphasis placed on each word so that the sentences were more a matter of the timing of pauses that the arc of speech, tonal modulation, etc. i liked that she resisted being Epic, that the piece had a sweep to it, but remained locked in a single, located perspective. and i liked that the organizing committe broke with the awful, tremulous hallmark card model of folk like maya angelou.
in the overall scheme of things, liking the ceremonial poet more than most such ceremonial poets is not the biggest of issues--but still i wonder if there might be a creeping in, by degrees, of some (much?) of the more "experimental" work that's happening off the monotonous radar of official reactionary culture in the states.
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a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear
it make you sick.
-kamau brathwaite
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