{"product_id":"bum-rush-the-page-isbn-9780609808405","title":"Bum Rush the Page","description":"\u003cb\u003eBum Rush the Page\u003c\/b\u003e is a groundbreaking collection, capturing the best new work from the poets who have brought fresh energy, life, and relevance to American poetry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e“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.” \u003cbr\u003e–Tony Medina, from the IntroductionTony Medina is a poet, professor, activist, and author of ten books, including \u003cb\u003eDeShawn Days,\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eLove to Langston\u003c\/b\u003e, and \u003cb\u003eRole Call: A Generational Anthology of Social and Political Black Literature \u0026amp; Art\u003c\/b\u003e.  \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLouis 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.\u003cb\u003eThe Way We Move\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003ethe way we move, funk groove\u003cbr\u003ebeat the rhythm out some pavement,\u003cbr\u003eour elegant violent attitude, quick\u003cbr\u003eslow motion movement in quicksand\u003cbr\u003ein somebody else's shit house shanty town\u003cbr\u003eshingly jingly chains clamped on our neck,\u003cbr\u003ehang to the floor scrape spark and clink\u003cbr\u003eand we make music out of this cool behind dark\u003cbr\u003eshades, taught to fear the sun, hiding in\u003cbr\u003ebeauty parlors and bars draggy face with\u003cbr\u003ehatred and ugliness,\u003cbr\u003e                                    and it only comes when you don't\u003cbr\u003eaccept the natural gifts, the fingerprints of a\u003cbr\u003ehigher order of peace and simple logic, what makes us\u003cbr\u003ephenomenal is that we can sleep walk in\u003cbr\u003eharmony, never breaking a sweat 'cept in factories\u003cbr\u003eor bars, prisons we even build systems for, our\u003cbr\u003eown street logic and survival, but this is not where\u003cbr\u003ewe're meant to be, not on the operating table of\u003cbr\u003eextinction or at the broken doorstep of finality\u003cbr\u003estumbling drunk confused scagged out on whiteness\u003cbr\u003eand greed and stupidity into the bleeding face of our\u003cbr\u003edead father, and we are not supposed to move\u003cbr\u003ethis way, slow mumbling suicide in quicksand and defeat\u003cbr\u003ewe must refocus, we must see again\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eTony Medina (New York)\u003c\/i\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e. . . And the Saga Continues\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003efor Gary Graham\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e From Guinea to Haiti to Brooklyn\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e From Guinea to Haiti to the Bronx\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e From Brooklyn to the Bronx to LA\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e From Philly to Haiti to the New Jersey Turnpike\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e From village to hamlet to Borough\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e From LA to Orange to Newark to Guinea\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e From PR to the Bronx Brooklyn Queens Guinea\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e From Soundview to no view of the anguish of . . .\u003cbr\u003eMother Mother why have you forsaken me\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBless me father for they are winning\u003cbr\u003eAnd my mutter is crying\u003cbr\u003eBless me father for my mutter is crying\u003cbr\u003eAt the sight of my dying\u003cbr\u003eSave me Lord from being vanquished\u003cbr\u003eSave my mutter from this anguish\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e From Harlem to the Bronx to Brooklyn Queens Newark San Juan\u003cbr\u003eand the nation's highways  I languish\u003cbr\u003eIn my blood and tears  of my mother's anguish\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCall the name . . . Call the names I say\u003cbr\u003eyou know them better than I\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eShaka Sankofa  Malcolm Ferguson  Patrick Doresmond\u003cbr\u003eAbner Louima  Amadou Diallo  Kevin Cedeno  James Byrd\u003cbr\u003eMatthew Sheppard  Anthony Baez  Michael Stewart\u003cbr\u003eEarl Faison . . . etc. etc. etc.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAnd the list gets longer week by week\u003cbr\u003eAn African got lynched today\u003cbr\u003eJuneteenth 2000\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eFrom Texas to Chicago to Watts to Newark\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003eFrom PR to Cuba to the Dominican Republic\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eAfrica calls from the bottom of the Atlantic\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e From Ghanaian fields smooth black skin\u003cbr\u003eTurns purplish  under lash  under water\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eCan you hear them gurgle . . . Abnerrrrr\u003cbr\u003eCan you hear them scream . . . Amadouuuuuuuu\u003cbr\u003eCan you hear the windpipe snap . . . Antonyyyyyyyyap\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBlessed be  Blessed be  Blessed be\u003cbr\u003eDear Lord have mercy  Lord have mercy\u003cbr\u003eHave mercy on me\u003cbr\u003ebless me father for I\u003cbr\u003ehave sinned . . .\u003cbr\u003ewith my mind I daily will demise\u003cbr\u003eof the western ways and all of its compatriots\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBless me father with a bottle of scupernog or\u003cbr\u003eWild Irish Rose to soften the blow\u003cbr\u003eof this monster's breath  upon my neck\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003ein harlem  in havana  in charleston  in Porto Prince\u003cbr\u003ethe saga continues . . .\u003cbr\u003eblood  blood I say\u003cbr\u003eblood in the rectum  bullets in the gut\u003cbr\u003ein the head  the chest neck\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eA rope a nightstick pepper spray\u003cbr\u003eOr a lethal illegal injection\u003cbr\u003efrom the State\u003cbr\u003ethe state of tex ass  where seldom is heard\u003cbr\u003ean encouraging word and the sky is cloudy\u003cbr\u003eall year\u003cbr\u003ehow 'bout florida or new jersey or new york\u003cbr\u003ethe city so nice  they kill you twice\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eNext stop  Ghana  to the Congo  to Zimbabwe\u003cbr\u003eAnd back\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eTed Wilson (Orange, NJ)\u003c\/i\u003eforeword by Dr. Sonia Sanchez","brand":"Crown","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46302152655077,"sku":"NP9780609808405","price":20.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780609808405.jpg?v=1767723180","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/es\/products\/bum-rush-the-page-isbn-9780609808405","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}