Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam
Bum Rush the Page is a groundbreaking collection, capturing the best new work from the poets who have brought fresh energy, life, and relevance to American poetry.

“Here is a democratic orchestration of voices and visions, poets of all ages, ethnicities, and geographic locations coming together to create a dialogue and to jam–not slam. This is our mouth on paper, our hearts on our sleeves, our refusal to shut up and swallow our silence. These poems are tough, honest, astute, perceptive, lyrical, blunt, sad, funny, heartbreaking, and true. They shout, they curse, they whisper, and sing. But most of all, they tell it like it is.”
–Tony Medina, from the Introduction
1100619341
Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam
Bum Rush the Page is a groundbreaking collection, capturing the best new work from the poets who have brought fresh energy, life, and relevance to American poetry.

“Here is a democratic orchestration of voices and visions, poets of all ages, ethnicities, and geographic locations coming together to create a dialogue and to jam–not slam. This is our mouth on paper, our hearts on our sleeves, our refusal to shut up and swallow our silence. These poems are tough, honest, astute, perceptive, lyrical, blunt, sad, funny, heartbreaking, and true. They shout, they curse, they whisper, and sing. But most of all, they tell it like it is.”
–Tony Medina, from the Introduction
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Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam

Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam

Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam

Bum Rush the Page: A Def Poetry Jam

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Overview

Bum Rush the Page is a groundbreaking collection, capturing the best new work from the poets who have brought fresh energy, life, and relevance to American poetry.

“Here is a democratic orchestration of voices and visions, poets of all ages, ethnicities, and geographic locations coming together to create a dialogue and to jam–not slam. This is our mouth on paper, our hearts on our sleeves, our refusal to shut up and swallow our silence. These poems are tough, honest, astute, perceptive, lyrical, blunt, sad, funny, heartbreaking, and true. They shout, they curse, they whisper, and sing. But most of all, they tell it like it is.”
–Tony Medina, from the Introduction

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780307565648
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group
Publication date: 04/23/2009
Sold by: Random House
Format: eBook
Pages: 320
File size: 2 MB

About the Author

Tony Medina is a poet, professor, activist, and author of ten books, including DeShawn Days, Love to Langston, and Role Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature & Art.

Louis Reyes Rivera is a professor of Pan African, Caribbean, Puerto Rican, and African American history and literature. A noted poet and essayist, he is the recipient of more than twenty citations, including a Special Congressional Recognition Award for his work as an activist poet. Def Poetry Jam is a multimedia poetry project featuring live showcases and jams across the country, a website, and other projects aimed at bringing poetry to new audiences.

Read an Excerpt

The Way We Move
the way we move, funk groove
beat the rhythm out some pavement,
our elegant violent attitude, quick
slow motion movement in quicksand
in somebody else's shit house shanty town
shingly jingly chains clamped on our neck,
hang to the floor scrape spark and clink
and we make music out of this cool behind dark
shades, taught to fear the sun, hiding in
beauty parlors and bars draggy face with
hatred and ugliness,
and it only comes when you don't
accept the natural gifts, the fingerprints of a
higher order of peace and simple logic, what makes us
phenomenal is that we can sleep walk in
harmony, never breaking a sweat 'cept in factories
or bars, prisons we even build systems for, our
own street logic and survival, but this is not where
we're meant to be, not on the operating table of
extinction or at the broken doorstep of finality
stumbling drunk confused scagged out on whiteness
and greed and stupidity into the bleeding face of our
dead father, and we are not supposed to move
this way, slow mumbling suicide in quicksand and defeat
we must refocus, we must see again

Tony Medina (New York)

. . . And the Saga Continues
for Gary Graham

From Guinea to Haiti to Brooklyn
And back
From Guinea to Haiti to the Bronx
And back
From Brooklyn to the Bronx to LA
And back
From Philly to Haiti to the New Jersey Turnpike
And back
From village to hamlet to Borough
And back
From LA to Orange to Newark to Guinea
And back
From PR to the Bronx Brooklyn Queens Guinea
And back
From Soundview to no view of the anguish of . . .
Mother Mother why have you forsaken me

Bless me father for they are winning
And my mutter is crying
Bless me father for my mutter is crying
At the sight of my dying
Save me Lord from being vanquished
Save my mutter from this anguish

From Harlem to the Bronx to Brooklyn Queens Newark San Juan
and the nation's highways I languish
In my blood and tears of my mother's anguish
And back

Call the name . . . Call the names I say
you know them better than I

Shaka Sankofa Malcolm Ferguson Patrick Doresmond
Abner Louima Amadou Diallo Kevin Cedeno James Byrd
Matthew Sheppard Anthony Baez Michael Stewart
Earl Faison . . . etc. etc. etc.

And the list gets longer week by week
An African got lynched today
Juneteenth 2000

From Texas to Chicago to Watts to Newark
And back
From PR to Cuba to the Dominican Republic
And back

Africa calls from the bottom of the Atlantic
And back
From Ghanaian fields smooth black skin
Turns purplish under lash under water
And back

Can you hear them gurgle . . . Abnerrrrr
Can you hear them scream . . . Amadouuuuuuuu
Can you hear the windpipe snap . . . Antonyyyyyyyyap

Blessed be Blessed be Blessed be
Dear Lord have mercy Lord have mercy
Have mercy on me
bless me father for I
have sinned . . .
with my mind I daily will demise
of the western ways and all of its compatriots

Bless me father with a bottle of scupernog or
Wild Irish Rose to soften the blow
of this monster's breath upon my neck
And back

in harlem in havana in charleston in Porto Prince
the saga continues . . .
blood blood I say
blood in the rectum bullets in the gut
in the head the chest neck
And back

A rope a nightstick pepper spray
Or a lethal illegal injection
from the State
the state of tex ass where seldom is heard
an encouraging word and the sky is cloudy
all year
how 'bout florida or new jersey or new york
the city so nice they kill you twice

Next stop Ghana to the Congo to Zimbabwe
And back

Ted Wilson (Orange, NJ)

Table of Contents

Forewordxv
Introductionxix
Invocation
We Have Been Believersxxv
A Poet Is Not a Juke Boxxxvi
Nommoxxvii
No Jivexxviii
failure of an inventionxxviii
Buildingxxix
The Disdirectedxxxi
Blood I Say, Study Our Story, Sing This Song
The Way We Move1
... And the Saga Continues1
Bad Times3
How to Do4
Like a Dog6
Lonely Women7
On the Other Side9
N10
Her Scream Has Been Stolen11
Crater Face12
susu13
An Asian Am Anthem14
Scout16
This Old Man17
Afternoon Train19
Beginning at the End: Capital/Capitol Punishment20
Open Your Mouth--and Smile
A Chinese Man in Smyma22
450 Years of Selective Memory (Smile)23
the n-word24
an open letter to the entertainment industry25
Metropolitan Metaphysics28
America Eats Its Young29
laughin at cha31
Rosa's Beauty32
Overworked33
Nintendo34
Stealth-Pirates of Cyberia35
The Death of Poetry35
Last Visit to Chestnut Middle School37
Learning to Drive at 3238
Mr. BOOM BOOM Man39
Road to the Presidency40
For What It's Worth41
Every Word Must Conjure
It's Called Kings44
Billy45
To Become Unconscious46
Letter to an Unconceived Son46
The Usual Suspects48
Blooming Death ... Blossoms49
What the Oracle Said51
The U.S.A. Court of No Appeal52
on the state-sanctioned murder of shaka sankofa52
An Epistle to the Revolutionary Bible53
Warrior Womb55
Cowboynomics56
Demockery57
Executive Privilege58
Question61
georgia avenue, washington d.c.62
A Palace of Mourners64
Palestine65
The Road from Khartoum66
A Modern Love Poem68
In Praise of the Seattle Coalition69
Blood Is the Argument69
Drums Drown Out the Sorrow
Amadou Diallo from Guinea to the Bronx Dead on Arrival73
Another Scream74
A Well-Bred Woman76
Amadou78
BLS78
after diana died79
Dudley Randall (1914-2000)80
Hoodoo Whisper81
Sammy Davis, Jr.82
Glad All Over84
Dancing after Sanchez85
The 13th Letter86
In Black Churches86
For Gwendolyn Brooks87
tonal embryology88
Zizwe88
All, Bomaye89
Phyllis90
Timbalero91
Puente93
Somalia93
epitaph for Etheridge Knight94
Farewell Queen Mother Moore97
Palenque Queen by Habana's Shores98
When the Definition of Madness Is Love
January Hangover100
the hardest part about love100
Lies We Tell Ourselves102
8 ways of looking at pussy103
Temporary Insanity105
alone in belize106
footprints107
Big World Look Out108
Bullet Hole Man: A Love Poem110
Dreadlocks111
Roots111
Six Minutes Writing112
Diner112
Fullness113
Wet Dream115
foursomes115
Wishing You116
Shunning an Imperative116
January 8, 1996118
A Poem for You119
Throbs for the Instructress120
At the Frenchman's121
Mata Hari Blues or Why I Will Never Be a Spy123
Yellah124
Extremes Ain't My Thing As Salaam Alaikum125
13126
rock candy127
Love Jam129
Cocaine Mad-Scream Article #33 LoveSong130
We Whose Fathers Are Hidden
The Elders Are Gods132
What the Dead Do133
creation is a cycle133
Birth134
Daughter-to-Father Talk136
Tattooing the Motherline137
Our Fathers138
Mama's Magic139
Father's Day140
Momma in Red140
Wildlife141
Chicago on the Day Brother Increases His Chances of Reaching Age 21142
Lest We Forget143
The African Burial Ground Called Tribeca143
fatherless townships144
Waiting for the Results of a Pregnancy Test146
Sitting in the Doctor's Office the Next Day148
Circa148
Seed of Resistance
Cooking151
Ben Hur151
in 5th grade152
Complected154
Broken Ends Broken Promises155
My Name's Not Rodriguez156
Water from the Well157
The Tragic Mulatto Is Neither158
Beauty Is Moving Us Forward
I'm Sayin Though160
beauty rituals 2000160
Medusa161
Stariette161
exceptions163
What the deal, son?166
Plain Ole Brother Blues168
Why I Be a Goddess169
I'm the Man170
Dare to Be Different171
Thoughts from a Bar Stool173
A Blue Black Pearl173
runnin175
conversations in the struggle176
Harvest: A Line Drawing177
joseph speaks to gericault in the studio178
Entrancielo181
New York Seizures182
Hey Yo / Yo Soy!185
Flying over America188
It Was the Music That Made Us
I'm a Hip Hop Cheerleader190
kill the dj192
Ms. Cousins' Rap193
all up in there194
Doin'195
The Trash Talker196
Owed to Eminem197
A Psychoalphadiscobetabioaquadoloop200
rapid transit201
hold it steady202
Conversation with Duke Ellington and Louis (Pops) Armstrong203
For Lady and Prez204
breath205
The Flow206
Bebop Trumpet208
conjugation of the verb: to blow208
The Creed of a Graffiti Writer210
Sonido Ink(quieto)214
because I am it's a race thing trip215
Grasshopper217
Grace219
The Low End219
rep/resent221
2G (Another Millennium Poem)223
enter(f*#@ckin)tained223
Children of the Word
Motherseed226
Wake Up, My Little Pretties227
nommo: how we come to speak227
spaNglisH229
New Boogaloo229
Mi Negrito232
News of the World233
Much of Your Poetry Is Beautiful234
Ginsberg234
In Bed with James Tate235
soulgroovin ditty #7236
Sundays237
To Aretha Franklin from Sparkle238
Lumumba Blues239
All the shoes are shined and the cotton is picked240
In this day age241
The Trouble I've Seen241
Having Lost My Son, I Confront the Wreckage242
Bensonhurst243
For Michael Griffith, Murdered Dec. 21, 1986, Howard Beach, NY244
Lift Every Fist and Swing245
TV Dinner245
Bluesman248
We're Not Well Here250
Nickel Wine and Deep Kisses251
The Coward253
Strip254
Sex255
enemies256
American Poetry257
So Many Books, So Little Time260
How to Be a Street Poet261
The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash263
X264
The Tradition265
There It Is267
Contributors270
Permissions281
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