Blog 3

Reading Mr Hughes article made me agree with him when he stated that America hasn’t made much progress on racism. Everyday on social media or on the news, we see something happening to a poor innocent black person. Its 2019 we are expected to move on past this racism stuff but, I think it’s getting worse minute of the day. We already have a racist white president, who has a whole racist group of people who glorify him with their MAGA hats on.

If people would just get past the color of people’s skins or where they come from, we could have mad way so much progress in the country by now. In the article, he states that white men earn more income than black males. I don’t think that is fair at all, because the black man you passed on might have been the next Bill Gates but instead of his skin color, he won’t get the same opportunity as the white guy. People need to wake up and stop with the discrimination. Imagine how many things could have been accomplished if people from different cultures and got together to share different ideas for different things.

People are afraid of progress, when they don’t understand something, the hate or discriminate instead of trying to understand. Yes, there are others who have changed and become more open now, but it could be better. The only time they see other people as beneficial is in sports or technology. Like you see a lot of black people in sports, but they can’t star in a movie without being in some sort of supporting role. We see a lot of Asians as being nerds but it’s hard for a black person to be seen as a genius. It’s really sad that we put people in groups without even getting to know them.

Before I even read/listened to the poems In “Don’t call us Dead” by Danez Smith, I honestly did not know what I was expecting, and I’m sure I’m not the only one in my class who thought the same. I can not say I am a fan of poems, especially ones that tend to not rhyme as much as I’m used to, but I did not dislike reading these by Mr. Smith. Danez Smith did not hold back on his emotions when he wrote these poems; you can hear the anger he has towards “White America” and how he feels like a victim of being stereotyped along with the black community. This kind of emotion he emits when your both reading and listening to his poems are the emotions that grab your attention and make you want to understand the meaning of what he says.

Danez Smith although being a black gay man, I could feel myself really relating to what he says at times when he does mention all the discrimination and injustice that people of color face. I also felt relieved to have known what movies he actually mentions in his poems as well. This feeling of relating to a book really helped keep me motivated to actually finish the book. I found myself really satisfied with how great the poems were and do not dislike anything from it!

Personally i found this book intriguing and very raw. I was taken aback by how vivid he was in his description of everything this book makes you think. I also love the fact that he was not afraid to tackle these more taboo topics. This book gives a sense of realness and honesty about the topics of sexuality, race, and how we address the topic of sex in general.

I was raised by very liberal parents so i was taught about sex and stds and stis at a very young age. I know that this is not the norm and it should be because if people were taught younger there wouldn’t be this taboo surrounding sexual safety. Now there are more and more people getting infected with these diseases when all they would need to do is be educated on how to protect themselves.

Lastly the subject of sexuality and race is tackled and it is good. There are people who are ignorant and mean and think that one race is better than the other. This author is passionate about the plight of the LGBTQ+ community and the plight of people of color.   

Overall, the book really surprised me. All the poems told a story in a way to me. They used very vivid language and a different style of writing. The author seemed not shy to speak his mind in his book with certain stories he used in the book. But as I read, I became more and more intrigued with his poems and his setup with them. In each story, it told a story of colored people overall and the things we go through and deal with in our lives. He told related stories that some people have experienced. He talked about us “taking back “our” community in a vivid way.

The poems in this book that stood out the most to me were “Dear White America” when he ranted about us taking back our lands, our history, and making a new “name” for us in a way. I also liked “Litany with blood all over” which meant to me being judged for things that you can’t control or flaws that you have and being punished in a way for them. The other one that stood out was “Summer, somewhere” where he talked about our people dying and only being acknowledged for a small point in time.

Danez Smith’s poems overall spoke to me in a way. It showed that he had no reason to hold back the way he was feeling and to me, that’s a good thing in this world. Us as colored people have always had our voices ripped away, silenced, or taking for a joke. This shows that our minds go farther than what people think they do and that we are capable in making a big voice for ourselves.

Don’t Call Us Dead by Danez Smith is a book of poetry that is raw, honest, and heavy. He writes about experiences that are taboos in America. Being black. Being gay. Being HIV positive. Being a man that won’t conform. He also speaks of the violence that has plagued black American communities by the hand of the blameless white counterparts.

I personally love how raw and crude his poetry is. Danez is clear that if his words don’t comfort you it’s not for you. He doesn’t sugar coat his experience. On the same page, his words convey pain the show joy and laughter. His poetry sings truth that I have never, can never experience. Yet his feelings pull you through a world that must be known. An experience that is loud from silence, true from the lie, and weighted in its validity to exist without shame.

Watching Danez read his poetry brings a whole new experience to his words on plain paper. I enjoyed the contrast between how I read the poetry in my head versus his performance art. His spoken word art brings new meaning to rhythmless reading in my mind. Spoken word is a powerful art to convey meaning, emotion, and to spread truth to others in the form of goosebumps. These are five Spoken Word Poets from different backgrounds and experiences!

Art has always been the only way for some to work through what their truth is. Poetry, painting, sculpting, dancing, drawing…They show us parts of us hidden even to ourselves.

Blog #2 https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Call-Us-Dead-Poems/dp/1555977855/ref=sr_1_fkmrnull_1?crid=1RBSMNSD7OMC8&keywords=dont+call+us+dead+danez+smith&qid=1550681882&s=gateway&sprefix=dont+call+us+dead%2Caps%2C-1&sr=8-1-fkmrnull

I think this poem has alot of different characteristics. The poem is very descriptive but its hard to completely 100% understand, im not the type of person to really read poetry, so i have a hard time analyzing the poem and the meaning of the poem.

I like the fact he describes what he’d wear on a summer day while with his friends and etc. Like he said he’d play football, look at different girls, and etc. One of my favorite quotes was “Waves all day, white beater and our best basketball shorts, the flyest shoes.”

I also like when he says “cutting heads round the corner, cutting eyes at the mother of girls i pretend to praise. I showed off for girls but stared at my stupid bony crew.”

My reaction towards Smith’s reading was very powerful. The way he says he recites his poem is so blunt and moving, it gives me goosebumps. He is also entertaining so it makes it easier for me to like the poem. He reads with so much passion and not a lot of people do that, I admire it. I like how he communicates with his audience, it like they have been friends. His not shy, he lets his personality out. I could listen to him read the whole book with no complaints. He doesn’t like that the fact that he has HIV hold him back. Some people in his position  don’t have the courage to do that.

You can really feel the pain and the passion coming through his reading. If I was one of the audiences I would really have hype this man up. His great he really had me feeling him. His sassy attitude, had me yelling “yaaaasssssssss”. I would not mind being his friend. I like the way he changes his tone, to catch your attention and also to entertain the audience.

The way his poems are written is so different from the way he recites his poems.  His poems are serious and the way he ways communicating with his audience is much different. I am just so amazed by the way he presents his work and that takes passion and he has it. He is not afraid to show who he is in is performances and he says it as it is and I like that.

I never cared for poetry, but for some reason Danez Smiths poems have interested me. I read the poem “recklessly” and it took me a few times to read and actually fully understand what he was trying to say, even though i am not fully sure i get what he is saying. Smiths was mentioning a boy a lot and i think he is talking about his sexuality or about being in love with a boy or more like a love story. I think the boy was confusing Smith but he did not care. The tone makes me feel he is desperate about something or like worrisome. What i liked about this poem also was that in a way it had me on the edge of my seat, i did not know or expect what he was going to say next or what he meant about everything until i digested it and went back to the beginning. I was not at all disappointed by this poem and i look forwards into reading more by him, he is very unique and it has a very big impact on how he writes because you can almost feel how he feels through his word which is extremely powerful. https://vinylpoetryandprose.com/2017/09/danez-smith/

The book “DON’T CALL US DEAD” and the reading from Danez Smith was a very passionate. The title of the book and the picture on the book cover makes the poems in it all make since. Basically the different poems are putting a shining light on racism and how it is for a African American in the United States. “history is what it is. it know what it did” A very profound quote from the author basically saying we know the history but the history will never change it will always be the same no matter how u twist it. Maybe there’s a more deeper meaning where the author is hinting at we should move on from the past knowing that we can never change what has happened.

As the author Danez Smith reads some of these poems in the online reading he is very passionate and ecstatic while reading. It’s almost as he’s acting some of these poems out. In a way you can imagine how these poems can happen in everyday life from the way he’s reading them. For some reason when I think of somebody reading different poems I think of somebody nonchalantly reading a poem but this was the complete opposite. In fact the energy he is reading these poems with almost grabs your attention even if you don’t want to pay attention to what he has to say.

Yes these poems could be looked at as very controversial but these same arguments that the author makes in these poems are arguments that people have everyday. The author gives an inside glimpse on not only how his life is but a bunch of other people as well. The author is speaking up for people who are going through the same thing he has and is going through that’s why these poems will connect well with lots of people. I like the author is not scared to voice his opinion and while reading these poems he is very animated. To me that shows that he is confident in what he is saying and having no fears of what somebody else might have to say about it.