citizen: an american lyric
TRANSCRIPT
![Page 1: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
![Page 2: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/2.jpg)
CITIZEN
![Page 3: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/3.jpg)
AlsobyClaudiaRankine
PoetryDon’tLetMeBeLonely
PlotTheEndoftheAlphabet
NothinginNatureIsPrivate
Play
![Page 4: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/4.jpg)
TheProvenanceofBeauty:ASouthBronxTravelogue
CoeditorTheRacialImaginary
AmericanPoetsinthe21stCentury
AmericanWomenPoetsinthe21stCentury
![Page 5: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/5.jpg)
CITIZENAnAmerican
Lyric
![Page 6: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/6.jpg)
ClaudiaRankine
![Page 7: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/7.jpg)
GraywolfPress
![Page 8: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/8.jpg)
Copyright©2014byClaudiaRankine
Permissionacknowledgmentsappearonpages163–166.
Thispublicationismadepossible,inpart,bythevotersofMinnesotathroughaMinnesotaStateArtsBoardOperatingSupportgrant,thankstoalegislativeappropriationfromtheartsandculturalheritagefund,andthroughgrantsfromtheNationalEndowmentfortheArtsandtheWellsFargoFoundationMinnesota.SignificantsupporthasalsobeenprovidedbyTarget,theMcKnightFoundation,Amazon.com,andothergenerouscontributionsfromfoundations,corporations,and
![Page 9: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/9.jpg)
individuals.Totheseorganizationsandindividualsweofferourheartfeltthanks.
ThisbookismadepossiblethroughapartnershipwiththeCollegeofSaintBenedict,andhonorsthelegacyofS.MariellaGable,adistinguishedteacherattheCollege.SupporthasbeenprovidedbytheManitouFundaspartoftheWarnerReadingProgram.
PublishedbyGraywolfPress
![Page 10: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/10.jpg)
250ThirdAvenueNorth,Suite600Minneapolis,Minnesota55401
Allrightsreserved.
www.graywolfpress.org
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
ISBN978-1-55597-690-3
EbookISBN978-1-55597-348-3
246897531FirstGraywolfPrinting,2014
LibraryofCongressControlNumber:2014935702
![Page 11: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/11.jpg)
Coverart:DavidHammons,IntheHood,1993.Athleticsweatshirtwithwire.23×9inches(58.4×22.9cm).
Coverdesign:JohnLucas
![Page 12: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/12.jpg)
Iftheydon’tseehappinessinthepicture,atleastthey’llseetheblack.
ChrisMarker,SansSoleil
![Page 13: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/13.jpg)
For
DonovanHarrisCharlesKellyFrankiePorter
RichardRoderick
![Page 14: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/14.jpg)
CITIZEN
![Page 15: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/15.jpg)
I
![Page 16: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/16.jpg)
When you are alone and tootired even to turn on any ofyourdevices,youletyourselflinger in a past stackedamong your pillows.Usuallyyou are nestled underblankets and the house isempty. Sometimes the moonis missing and beyond thewindowsthelow,grayceilingseems approachable. Its darklight dims in degrees
![Page 17: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/17.jpg)
depending on the density ofcloudsandyoufallback intothatwhich gets reconstructedasmetaphor.
Therouteisoftenassociative.You smell good. You aretwelve attending Sts. Philipand James School on WhitePlains Road and the girlsittingintheseatbehindasksyoutoleantotherightduringexams so she can copywhat
![Page 18: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/18.jpg)
you have written. SisterEvelyn is in the habit oftaping the 100s and thefailing grades to the coatcloset doors. The girl isCatholic with waist-lengthbrown hair. You can’tremember her name: Mary?Catherine?
You never really speakexceptforthetimeshemakesher request and later when
![Page 19: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/19.jpg)
she tells you you smell goodandhavefeaturesmorelikeawhite person. You assumeshethinkssheisthankingyouforlettinghercheatandfeelsbetter cheating from analmostwhiteperson.
![Page 20: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/20.jpg)
Sister Evelyn never figuresoutyourarrangementperhapsbecause you never turnaround to copy MaryCatherine’s answers. SisterEvelyn must think these twogirls think a lot alike or shecares lessaboutcheatingandmoreabouthumiliationorsheneveractuallysawyousittingthere.
![Page 21: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/21.jpg)
![Page 22: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/22.jpg)
Certain moments sendadrenaline to the heart, dryout the tongue, and clog thelungs. Like thunder theydrownyou in sound,no, likelightning they strike youacross the larynx. Cough.After it happened I was at aloss for words. Haven’t yousaid this yourself? Haven’tyousaidthistoaclosefriendwhoearly inyour friendship,
![Page 23: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/23.jpg)
when distracted, would callyoubythenameofherblackhousekeeper? You assumedyou twowere the only blackpeople inher life.Eventuallyshe stopped doing this,though she neveracknowledged her slippage.And you never called her onit (why not?) and yet, youdon’t forget. If this were adomestic tragedy, and itmightwell be, thiswould beyour fatal flaw—your
![Page 24: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/24.jpg)
memory, vessel of yourfeelings. Do you feel hurtbecause it’s the “all blackpeople look the same”moment, or because you arebeing confused with anotherafter being so close to thisother?
![Page 25: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/25.jpg)
An unsettled feeling keepsthe body front and center.The wrong words enter yourday like a bad egg in yourmouth and puke runs downyour blouse, a dampnessdrawing your stomach intoward your rib cage. Whenyou look around only youremain. Your own disgust atwhat you smell, what youfeel, doesn’t bring you to
![Page 26: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/26.jpg)
your feet, not right away,becausegatheringenergyhasbecomeitsowntask,needingits own argument. You arereminded of a conversationyou had recently, comparingthe merits of sentencesconstructed implicitly with“yes, and” rather than “yes,but.” You and your frienddecided that “yes, and”attestedtoalifewithnoturn-off,noalternativeroutes:youpull yourself to standing,
![Page 27: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/27.jpg)
soon enough the blouse isrinsed, it’s anotherweek, theblouse is beneath yoursweater, against your skin,andyousmellgood.
![Page 28: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/28.jpg)
The rain this morning poursfrom the gutters andeverywhere else it is lost inthe trees. You need yourglassestosingleoutwhatyouknow is there because doubtisinexorable;youputonyourglasses.The trees, theirbark,their leaves, even the deadones, are more vibrant wet.Yes, and it’s raining. Eachmomentislikethis—beforeit
![Page 29: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/29.jpg)
canbeknown,categorizedassimilar to another thing anddismissed, it has to beexperienced,ithastobeseen.Whatdidhejustsay?Didshereallyjustsaythat?DidIhearwhatIthinkIheard?Didthatjust come out of my mouth,his mouth, your mouth? Themomentstinks.Stillyouwantto stop looking at the trees.You want to walk out andstand among them. And aslightastherainseems,itstill
![Page 30: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/30.jpg)
rainsdownonyou.
![Page 31: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/31.jpg)
You are in the dark, in thecar,watchingtheblack-tarredstreet being swallowed byspeed;hetellsyouhisdeanismaking him hire a person ofcolorwhentherearesomanygreatwritersoutthere.
You think maybe this is anexperimentandyouarebeingtested or retroactively
![Page 32: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/32.jpg)
insulted or you have donesomethingthatcommunicatesthis is an okay conversationtobehaving.
Whydoyoufeelcomfortablesaying this tome?Youwishthe lightwould turn red or apolice siren would go off soyoucouldslamonthebrakes,slam into the car ahead ofyou, fly forward so quicklyboth your faces would
![Page 33: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/33.jpg)
suddenly be exposed to thewind.
As usual you drive straightthrough themomentwith theexpectedbackingoffofwhatwas previously said. It is notonly that confrontation isheadache-producing;itisalsothat you have a destinationthat doesn’t include actinglike this moment isn’tinhabitable, hasn’t happened
![Page 34: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/34.jpg)
before, and the before isn’tpart of the now as the nightdarkensandthetimeshortensbetween where we are andwherewearegoing.
![Page 35: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/35.jpg)
When you arrive in yourdrivewayandturnoffthecar,you remainbehind thewheelanothertenminutes.Youfearthe night is being locked inandcodedona cellular levelandwanttimetofunctionasapower wash. Sitting therestaring at the closed garagedooryouare reminded thatafriend once told you thereexists the medical term—
![Page 36: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/36.jpg)
John Henryism—for peopleexposed tostressesstemmingfrom racism. They achievethemselves to death trying tododge thebuildupoferasure.Sherman James, theresearcherwhocameupwiththe term, claimed thephysiological costs werehigh. You hope by sitting insilence you are bucking thetrend.
![Page 37: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/37.jpg)
Because of your elite statusfromayear’sworthoftravel,you have already settled intoyour window seat on UnitedAirlines, when the girl andhermotherarriveatyourrow.Thegirl,lookingoveratyou,tellshermother,theseareourseats, but this is not what Iexpected. The mother’sresponse is barely audible—Isee, she says. I’ll sit in the
![Page 38: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/38.jpg)
middle.
![Page 39: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/39.jpg)
A woman you do not knowwants to join you for lunch.You are visiting her campus.InthecaféyoubothordertheCaesar salad. This overlap isnotthebeginningofanythingbecause she immediatelypointsoutthatshe,herfather,her grandfather, and you, allattended the same college.She wanted her son to gothere aswell, but because of
![Page 40: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/40.jpg)
affirmativeactionorminoritysomething—she is not surewhat they are calling it thesedays and weren’t theysupposed to get rid of it?—hersonwasn’taccepted.Youarenot sure ifyouaremeanttoapologizeforthisfailureofyour alma mater’s legacyprogram; instead you askwhere he ended up. Theprestigious school shementions doesn’t seem toassuage her irritation. This
![Page 41: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/41.jpg)
exchange,ineffect,endsyourlunch.Thesaladsarrive.
![Page 42: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/42.jpg)
A friend argues thatAmericansbattlebetweenthe“historical self”and the“selfself.”By this shemeans youmostly interact as friendswith mutual interest and, forthe most part, compatiblepersonalities; however,sometimes your historicalselves, her white self andyourblackself,oryourwhiteselfandherblackself,arrive
![Page 43: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/43.jpg)
with the full force of yourAmerican positioning. Thenyou are standing face-to-facein seconds that wipe theaffablesmilesrightfromyourmouths. What did you say?Instantaneously yourattachment seems fragile,tenuous, subject to anytransgression of yourhistorical self. And thoughyourjoinedpersonalhistoriesare supposed to save youfrommisunderstandings,they
![Page 44: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/44.jpg)
usually cause you tounderstand all too well whatismeant.
![Page 45: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/45.jpg)
You and your partner go tosee the film The House WeLive In. You ask a friend topick up your child fromschool. On your way homeyour phone rings. Yourneighbor tells you he isstanding at his windowwatching a menacing blackguy casing both your homes.Theguy iswalkingbackandforth talking to himself and
![Page 46: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/46.jpg)
seemsdisturbed.
You tell your neighbor thatyour friend, whom he hasmet, is babysitting. He says,no, it’s not him. He’s metyourfriendandthis isn’t thatniceyoungman.Anyway,hewants you to know, he’scalledthepolice.
Yourpartnercallsyourfriend
![Page 47: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/47.jpg)
andaskshimif there’saguywalking back and forth infront of your home. Yourfriend says that if anyonewere outside he would seehim because he is standingoutside. You hear the sirensthroughthespeakerphone.
Your friend is speaking toyour neighbor when youarrive home. The four policecarsaregone.Yourneighbor
![Page 48: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/48.jpg)
hasapologizedtoyourfriendand is now apologizing toyou. Feeling somewhatresponsible for theactionsofyour neighbor, you clumsilytell your friend that the nexttime he wants to talk on thephoneheshouldjustgointhebackyard. He looks at you alongminutebeforesayinghecan speak on the phonewherever he wants. Yes, ofcourse, you say. Yes, ofcourse.
![Page 49: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/49.jpg)
Whenthestrangerasks,Whydo you care? you just standthere staring at him. He hasjustreferredtotheboisterousteenagers in Starbucks asniggers. Hey, I am standingrighthere,youresponded,notnecessarily expecting him toturntoyou.
Heisholdingtheliddedpaper
![Page 50: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/50.jpg)
cup in one hand and a smallpaper bag in the other. Theyarejustbeingkids.Comeon,no need to get all KKK onthem,yousay.
Now there you go, heresponds.
The people around you haveturned away from theirscreens.Theteenagersareon
![Page 51: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/51.jpg)
pause. There I go? you ask,feelingirritationbegintoraindown. Yes, and somethingabout hearing yourselfrepeating this stranger’saccusation in a voice usuallyreserved for your partnermakesyousmile.
![Page 52: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/52.jpg)
Amanknockedoverher soninthesubway.Youfeelyourown bodywince. He’s okay,but the son of a bitch keptwalking. She says shegrabbed the stranger’s armand told him to apologize: Itold him to look at the boyand apologize. Yes, and youwant it to stop,youwant thechildpushedtothegroundtobe seen, to be helped to his
![Page 53: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/53.jpg)
feet, tobebrushedoffbytheperson that did not see him,has never seen him, hasperhaps never seen anyonewho is not a reflection ofhimself.
The beautiful thing is that agroupofmenbegan to standbehind me like a fleet ofbodyguards, she says, likenewly found uncles andbrothers.
![Page 54: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/54.jpg)
Thenew therapist specializesin trauma counseling. Youhaveonlyeverspokenonthephone. Her house has a sidegate that leads to a backentrancesheusesforpatients.You walk down a pathbordered on both sides withdeer grass and rosemary tothegate,whichturnsouttobelocked.
![Page 55: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/55.jpg)
Atthefrontdoorthebellisasmall round disc that youpress firmly. When the doorfinally opens, the womanstandingthereyells,atthetopof her lungs, Get away frommy house! What are youdoinginmyyard?
It’s as if a woundedDoberman pinscher or aGerman shepherd has gainedthe power of speech. And
![Page 56: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/56.jpg)
though you back up a fewsteps, youmanage to tell heryou have an appointment.You have an appointment?she spits back. Then shepauses. Everything pauses.Oh,shesays,followedby,oh,yes,that’sright.Iamsorry.
Iamsosorry,so,sosorry.
![Page 57: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/57.jpg)
![Page 58: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/58.jpg)
![Page 59: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/59.jpg)
II
![Page 60: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/60.jpg)
Hennessy Youngman akaJayson Musson, whose ArtThoughtz take the form oftutorials on YouTube,educates viewers oncontemporary art issues. Inone of his many videos, headdresses how to become asuccessful black artist, wrylysuggesting black people’sanger is marketable. Headvises black artists to
![Page 61: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/61.jpg)
cultivate “an angry niggerexterior”bywatching,amongotherthings,theRodneyKingvideowhileworking.
![Page 62: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/62.jpg)
Youngman’s suggestions are
![Page 63: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/63.jpg)
meant to exposeexpectationsfor blackness as well as tounderscore the difficultyinherent in any attempt byblack artists to metabolizereal rage. The commodifiedanger his video advocatesrestslightlyonthesurfaceforspectacle’s sake. It can beengaged or played like theracecardandistiedsolelytotheperformanceofblacknessandnottotheemotionalstateof particular individuals in
![Page 64: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/64.jpg)
particularsituations.
On the bridge between thissellableangerand“theartist”resides, at times, an actualanger.Youngmaninhisvideodoesn’t address this type ofanger: the anger built upthrough experience and thequotidian struggles againstdehumanization every brownor black person lives simplybecause of skin color. This
![Page 65: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/65.jpg)
other kind of anger in timecan prevent, rather thansponsor, the production ofanythingexceptloneliness.
You begin to think, maybeerroneously, that this otherkindofanger is reallya typeof knowledge: the type thatbothclarifiesanddisappoints.It responds to insult andattempted erasure simply byasserting presence, and the
![Page 66: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/66.jpg)
energyrequiredtopresent, toreact, to assert isaccompanied by visceraldisappointment: adisappointment in the sensethat no amount of visibilitywill alter the ways in whichoneisperceived.
Recognition of this lackmight break you apart. Orrecognition might illuminatethe erasure the attempted
![Page 67: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/67.jpg)
erasure triggers. Whethersuch discerning creates ahealthier, if more isolated,self, you can’t know. In anycase, Youngman doesn’tspeak to this kind of anger.He doesn’t say thatwitnessing the expression ofthis more ordinary and dailyangermightmakethewitnessbelieve that a person is“insane.”
![Page 68: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/68.jpg)
Andinsaneiswhatyouthink,one Sunday afternoon,drinking an Arnold Palmer,watching the 2009Women’sUSOpenfinal,whenbroughtto full attention by thesuddenly explosive behaviorofSerenaWilliams.SerenainHD before your eyesbecomesovercomebya rageyou recognizeandhavebeentaught to hold at a distancefor your own good. Serena’sbehavior, on this particular
![Page 69: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/69.jpg)
Sunday afternoon, suggeststhat all the injustice she hasplayed through all the yearsof her illustrious careerflashes before her and shedecides finally to respond toall of it with a string ofinvectives.Nothing,not eventhe repetition of negations(“no, no, no”) she employedin a similar situation yearsbeforeasayoungerplayeratthe 2004 US Open, preparesyou for this. Oh my God,
![Page 70: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/70.jpg)
she’s gone crazy, you say tonoone.
What does a victorious ordefeatedblackwoman’sbodyin a historically white spacelooklike?Serenaandherbigsister Venus Williamsbrought to mind Zora NealeHurston’s “I feel mostcolored when I am thrownagainst a sharp whitebackground.” This
![Page 71: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/71.jpg)
appropriated line, stenciledon canvas by Glenn Ligon,who used plastic letterstencils, smudging oil sticks,andgraphite to transform thewords into abstractions,seemed to be ad copy forsome aspect of life for allblackbodies.
Hurston’s statementhasbeenplayed out on the big screenby Serena and Venus: they
![Page 72: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/72.jpg)
win sometimes, they losesometimes, they’ve beeninjured, they’ve been happy,they’ve been sad, ignored,booed mightily (see IndianWells, which both sistershave boycotted since 2001),they’ve been cheered, andthrough it all and evident toallwerethosepeoplewhoareenragedtheyarethereatall—graphiteagainstasharpwhitebackground.
![Page 73: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/73.jpg)
For years you attribute toSerena Williams a kind ofresilienceappropriateonlyforthose who exist in celluloid.Neither her father nor hermother nor her sister norJehovah her God nor NIKEcamp could shield herultimately from people whofelt her black body didn’tbelongontheircourt,intheirworld. From the start manymade it clear Serena wouldhavedonebetterstrugglingto
![Page 74: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/74.jpg)
survive in the two-dimensionality of a Milletpainting, rather than on theirtenniscourt—bettertoputallthat strength towork in theirfantasy of her working theland,ratherthanbecaughtupin the turbulence of ourancient dramas, like a shipfighting a storm in a Turnerseascape.
The most notorious of
![Page 75: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/75.jpg)
Serena’s detractors takes theform of Mariana Alves, thedistinguished tennis chairumpire. In 2004 Alves wasexcused from officiating anymorematchesonthefinaldayof the US Open after shemade five bad calls againstSerena in her semifinalmatchup against fellowAmerican Jennifer Capriati.The servesand returnsAlvescalled out were landing,stunningly un returned by
![Page 76: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/76.jpg)
Capriati, inside the lines, nodiscerning eyesight needed.Commentators, spectators,television viewers, linejudges, everyone could seethe balls were good,everyone, apparently, exceptAlves. No one couldunderstand what washappening. Serena, in herdenim skirt, black sneakerboots, and dark mascara,beganwaggingherfingerandsaying “no, no, no,” as if by
![Page 77: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/77.jpg)
negating the moment shecould propel us back into alegible world. Tennissuperstar John McEnroe,given his own keen eye forinjustice during hisprofessional career, wasshockedthatSerenawasabletoholdittogetherafterlosingthematch.
Though no one was sayinganything explicitly about
![Page 78: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/78.jpg)
Serena’s blackbody, you arenot the only viewer whothought it was getting in theway of Alves’s sight line.One commentator said hehopedhewasn’tbeingunkindwhen he stated, “Capriatiwins it with the help of theumpiresandthelinesjudges.”Ayearlaterthatmatchwouldbecreditedfordemonstratingthe need for the speedyinstallationofHawk-Eye, theline-calling technology that
![Page 79: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/79.jpg)
tooktheseeingawayfromthebeholder. Now the umpire’scall can be challenged by areplay; however, back thenafter the match Serena said,“I’m very angry and bitterright now. I felt cheated.Shall I go on? I just feelrobbed.”
And though you felt outrageforSerenaafterthat2004USOpen,astheyearsgoby,she
![Page 80: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/80.jpg)
seems to put Alves, and alengthening list of othercurious calls and oversights,against both her and hersister, behind her as theyhappen.
Yes, and the body hasmemory. The physicalcarriage hauls more than itsweight. The body is thethreshold across which eachobjectionable call passes into
![Page 81: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/81.jpg)
consciousness—all theunintimidated, unblinking,and unflappable resiliencedoes not erase the momentslivedthrough,evenasweareeternally stupid oreverlastingly optimistic, soready to be inside, among, apartofthegames.
AndhereSerenais,fiveyearsafter Alves, back at the USOpen, again in a semifinal
![Page 82: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/82.jpg)
match, this time againstBelgium’s Kim Clijsters.Serenaisnotplayingwellandlosesthefirstset.Inresponseshesmashesherracketonthecourt. Now McEnroe isn’tstunnedbyherabilitytoholdherselftogetherandismovedto say, “That’s as angry asI’ve ever seen her.” Theumpire gives her a warning;anotherviolationwillmeanapointpenalty.
![Page 83: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/83.jpg)
Sheisinthesecondsetatthecritical moment of 5–6 inClijsters’s favor, serving tostay in the match, at matchpoint. The line judgeemployedbytheUSOpentowatch Serena’s body, itsevery move, says Serenastepped on the line whileserving. What? (The Hawk-Eye cameras don’t cover thefeet, only the ball,apparently.) What! Are youserious? She is serious; she
![Page 84: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/84.jpg)
has seen a foot fault, one noone else is able to locatedespitethenumerousreplays.“Nofoot fault,youdefinitelydonotseeafootfaultthere,”says McEnroe. “That’soverofficiating for certain,”says another commentator.Even the ESPN tenniscommentator, who seemspredictableinherreadinesstofind fault with the Williamssisters, says, “Her foot faultcall was way off.” Yes, and
![Page 85: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/85.jpg)
even if therehadbeena footfault, despite the rule, theyare rarely ever called atcritical moments in a GrandSlam match because “Youdon’t make a call,” tennisofficialCarolCoxsays,“thatcandecideamatchunlessit’sflagrant.”
As you look at the affableKim Clijsters, you try toentertainthethoughtthat this
![Page 86: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/86.jpg)
scenario could have playeditself out the otherway.Andas Serena turns to thelineswoman and says, “Iswear to God I’m fuckinggoingtotakethisfuckingballand shove it down yourfuckingthroat,youhearthat?IsweartoGod!”Asoffensiveas her outburst is, it isdifficult not to applaud herfor reacting immediately tobeing thrown against a sharpwhite background. It is
![Page 87: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/87.jpg)
difficult not to applaud herfor existing in the moment,for fighting crazily againstthe so-called wrongness ofher body’s positioning at theserviceline.
She says in 2009, belatedly,the words that should havebeen said to the umpire in2004, the words that mighthavesnappedAlvesbackintofocus, a focus that would
![Page 88: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/88.jpg)
have acknowledged whatactually was happening onthe court. Now Serena’sreaction is read as insane.And her punishment for thismoment of manumission isthe threatened point penaltyresulting in the loss of thematch,an$82,500fine,plusatwo-year probationary periodby the Grand SlamCommittee.
![Page 89: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/89.jpg)
Perhaps the committee’sdecision is only aboutcontext,thoughcontextisnotmeaning. It is a public eventbeing watched in homesacrosstheworld.Inanycase,it isdifficultnot to thinkthatif Serena lost context byabandoning all rules ofcivility, it could be becauseher body, trapped in a racialimaginary, trapped indisbelief—code for beingblack in America—is being
![Page 90: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/90.jpg)
governed not by the tennismatch she is participating inbut by a collapsedrelationship that hadpromisedtoplaybytherules.Perhaps this is how racismfeelsnomatter thecontext—randomly the rules everyoneelsegetstoplaybynolongerapply toyou, and to call thisoutbycallingout“IsweartoGod!” is to be called insane,crass, crazy. Badsportsmanship.
![Page 91: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/91.jpg)
Two years later, September11, 2011, Serena is playingtheAustralian Sam Stosur inthe US Open final. She isexpected to win, having justbeaten the number-oneplayer, the Dane CarolineWozniacki, in the semifinalthe night before. Somespeculate Serena especiallywantstowinthisGrandSlambecause it is the tenthanniversary of the attack onthe Twin Towers. It’s
![Page 92: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/92.jpg)
believed that bywinning shewill prove her red-bloodedAmericanpatriotismandwillonce and for all becomebeloved by the tennis world(think Arthur Ashe after hisdeath). All the bad calls, theboos, the criticisms that shehas made ugly the game oftennis—through her looks aswell as her behavior—thatentireclusterofbetrayalswillbewipedcleanwiththiswin.
![Page 93: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/93.jpg)
One imagines herwanting tosaywhathersisterwouldsaya year later after beingdiagnosed with Sjögren’ssyndrome and losing hermatchtoshoutsof“Let’sgo,Venus!” in Arthur AsheStadium: “I know this is notproper tennis etiquette, butthis is thefirst timeI’veeverplayed here that the crowdhasbeenbehindmelikethat.Today I felt American, youknow,forthefirsttimeatthe
![Page 94: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/94.jpg)
USOpen.So I’vewaitedmywhole career to have thismomentandhereitis.”
It is all too exhausting andSerena’sexhaustionshows inher playing; she is losing, aset and a game down. Yes,and finally she hits a greatshot, a big forehand, andbefore the ball is safely pastSam Stosur’s hitting zone,Serena yells, “Come on!”
![Page 95: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/95.jpg)
thinking she has hit anirretrievable winner. Theumpire, Eva Asderaki, rulescorrectly that Serena, byshouting, interfered withStosur’s concentration.Subsequently, a ball thatStosur seemingly would nothave been able to returnbecomes Stosur’s point.Serena’s reply is to ask theumpire if she is trying toscrew her again. Sheremembers the umpire doing
![Page 96: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/96.jpg)
this to her before. As aviewer, you too, along withJohn McEnroe, begin towonder if this is the sameumpirefrom2004or2009.Itisn’t—in2004itwasMarianaAlves and in 2009 it wasSharonWright; however, theuse of the word “again” bySerenareturnsherviewers toother times calling her bodyout.
![Page 97: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/97.jpg)
Again Serena’s frustrations,her disappointments, existwithin a system youunderstand not to try tounderstandinanyfair-mindedway because to do so is tounderstand the erasure of theself as systemic, as ordinary.For Serena, the dailydiminishment is a low flame,a constant drip. Every look,every comment, every badcall blossoms out of history,through her, onto you. To
![Page 98: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/98.jpg)
understandistoseeSerenaashemmedinasanyotherblackbody thrown against ourAmerican background.“Aren’t you the one thatscrewed me over last timehere?” she asks umpireAsderaki. “Yeah, you are.Don’t look at me. Really,don’teven lookatme.Don’tlookmyway.Don’t lookmyway,” she repeats, because itisthatsimple.
![Page 99: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/99.jpg)
Yes,andwhocanturnaway?Serena is not running out ofbreath. Despite all herunderstanding, she continuesto serve up aces whilesmashing rackets and frayinghems. In the 2012 Olympicsshe brought home the onlytwo gold medals theAmericans would win intennis.Afterherthree-secondcelebratory dance on centercourtattheAllEnglandClub,theAmericanmediareported,
![Page 100: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/100.jpg)
“And there was Serena …Crip-Walking all over themost lily-white place in theworld…. You couldn’t helpbutshakeyourhead….WhatSerena did was akin tocracking a tasteless, X-ratedjoke insideachurch….Whatshe did was immature andclassless.”
![Page 101: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/101.jpg)
![Page 102: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/102.jpg)
BeforemakingthevideoHowto Be a Successful BlackArtist, Hennessy YoungmanuploadedtoYouTubeHowtoBeaSuccessfulArtist.Whileputting forward theargumentthatoneneeds tobewhite tobe truly successful, he adds,inanaside,thatthismightnotworkforblacksbecauseif“anigger paints a flower itbecomes a slavery flower,
![Page 103: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/103.jpg)
flower de Amistad,” therebyintimating that anyrelationship between thewhite viewer and the blackartist immediately becomesone between white personsand black property, whichwas the legal state of thingsonceupona time, asPatriciaWilliams has pointed out inThe Alchemy of Race andRights: “The cold game ofequality staring makes mefeel like a thin sheet of
![Page 104: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/104.jpg)
glass…. I could force mypresence, the real mecontainedinthoseeyes,uponthem,butIwouldbesmashedintheprocess.”
Interviewed by theBrit PiersMorgan after her 2012Olympic victory, Serena isinformed by Morgan that hewas planning on calling hervictory dance “the SerenaShuffle”; however, he has
![Page 105: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/105.jpg)
learned from the AmericanpressthatitisaCripWalk,agangster dance. Serenaresponds incredulously byasking if she looks like agangster to him. Yes, heanswers. All in a day’s fun,perhaps, and in spite anddespiteitall,SerenaWilliamsblossoms again into SerenaWilliams.When asked if sheis confident she can win herupcoming matches, heranswer remains, “At the end
![Page 106: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/106.jpg)
of the day, I am very happywithme and I’m very happywithmyresults.”
Serena would go on to winevery match she playedbetweentheUSOpenandtheyear-end 2012 championshiptournament, and becausetennis is a game ofadjustments, she would dothiswithoutanyreactiontoanumberofquestionablecalls.
![Page 107: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/107.jpg)
More than one commentatorwould remark on her abilityto hold it together duringthese matches. She is awomaninlove,onesuggests.She has grown up, anotherdecides, as if responding tothe injustice of racism ischildish and her previousdemonstration of emotionwas free-floating anddetached from any externalactions by others. Someothers theorize she is
![Page 108: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/108.jpg)
developing the admirable“calmandmeasuredlogic”ofan Arthur Ashe, who thesportswriter Bruce Jenkinsfelt was “dignified” and“courageous”inhisabilitytoconfront injustice withoutmaking a scene. Jenkins,perhaps inspired by Serena’snewcomportment,feltmovedto argue that her continuedboycott of Indian Wells in2013, where she felttraumatizedbytheaggression
![Page 109: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/109.jpg)
ofracistslurshurledatherin2001, was lacking in“dignity” and “integrity” anddemonstrated “onlystubbornnessandagrudge.”
Watching this newlycontained Serena, you beginto wonder if she finally hasgivenupwantingbetter fromher peers or if she too hascome across Hennessy’s ArtThoughtz and is channeling
![Page 110: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/110.jpg)
hisassertionthatthelessthatis communicated the better.Be ambiguous. This type ofambiguity could also bediagnosedasdissociationandwouldsupportSerena’sclaimthat she has had to splitherself off from herself andcreatedifferentpersonae.
Now that there is no callingoutofinjustice,noyelling,nocursing,nofingerwaggingor
![Page 111: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/111.jpg)
head shaking, the mediadecidestotakeupthemantlewhenonDecember12,2012,two weeks after Serena isnamed WTA Player of theYear, the Dane CarolineWozniacki,aformernumber-oneplayer,imitatesSerenabystuffingtowelsinhertopandshorts, all in good fun, at anexhibition match. Racist?CNN wants to know ifoutrage is the properresponse.
![Page 112: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/112.jpg)
It’s then that Hennessy’ssuggestionsabout“howtobea successful artist” return toyou:beambiguous,bewhite.Wozniacki, it becomes clear,has finally enactedwhatwasdesired by many of Serena’sdetractors, consciously orunconsciously, the momenttheComptongirlfirststeppedon court. Wozniacki (thoughthereareanumberofwaystointerpret her actions—playfulmocking of a peer, imitation
![Page 113: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/113.jpg)
ofthemimickinganticsofthetennis player known as thejoker, Novak Djokovic)finally gives the peoplewhattheyhavewantedallalongbyembodying Serena’sattributes while leavingSerena’s “angry niggerexterior” behind. At last, inthisreal,andunreal,moment,we have Wozniacki’s imageof smiling blond goodnessposing as the best femaletennisplayerofalltime.
![Page 114: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/114.jpg)
![Page 115: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/115.jpg)
![Page 116: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/116.jpg)
III
![Page 117: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/117.jpg)
You are rushing to meet afriend in a distantneighborhood of SantaMonica. This friend says, asyouwalktowardher,Youarelate, you nappy-headed ho.What did you say? you ask,thoughyouhaveheardeveryword. This person has neverbefore referred to you likethis in your presence, neverbefore code-switched in this
![Page 118: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/118.jpg)
manner. What did you say?She doesn’t, perhapsphysically cannot, repeatwhatshehasjustsaid.
![Page 119: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/119.jpg)
Maybe the content of her
![Page 120: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/120.jpg)
statement is irrelevant andshe onlymeans to signal thestereotype of “black peopletime”byemployingwhatsheperceivestobe“blackpeoplelanguage.” Maybe she isjealous of whoever kept youandwants to suggestyouarenothing or everything to her.Maybe she wants to have abelated conversation aboutDon Imus and the women’sbasketball team he insultedwiththislanguage.Youdon’t
![Page 121: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/121.jpg)
know.You don’t knowwhatshe means. You don’t knowwhat response she expectsfromyounordoyoucare.Forall your previousunderstandings, suddenlyincoherence feels violent.Youbothexperiencethiscut,whichshekeepsinsistingisajoke, a joke stuck in herthroat, and like any otherinjury, you watch it rupturealong its suddenly exposedsuture.
![Page 122: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/122.jpg)
When a woman you workwithcallsyoubythenameofanother woman you workwith, it is too much of acliché not to laugh out loudwith the friend beside youwho says, oh no she didn’t.Still,intheend,sowhat,whocares? She had a fifty-fiftychanceofgettingitright.
![Page 123: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/123.jpg)
Yes, and in your mail theapology note appearsreferring to “our mistake.”Apparently your owninvisibilityistherealproblemcausingherconfusion.Thisishowtheapparatusshepropelsyouintobeginstomultiplyitsmeaning.
Whatdidyousay?
![Page 124: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/124.jpg)
At the end of a brief phoneconversation, you tell themanager you are speakingwith that you will come byhis office to sign the form.When you arrive andannounce yourself, he blurtsout, I didn’t know you wereblack!
I didn’tmean to say that, he
![Page 125: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/125.jpg)
thensays.
Aloud,yousay.
What?heasks.
You didn’t mean to say thataloud.
Your transactiongoesswiftlyafterthat.
![Page 126: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/126.jpg)
And when the woman withthe multiple degrees says, Ididn’t know black womencouldgetcancer,instinctivelyyou take two steps backthoughallurgencyleavesthepossibility of any kind ofrelationship as you realizenowhereiswhereyouwillgetfromhere.
![Page 127: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/127.jpg)
Afriendtellsyouhehasseena photograph of you on theInternetandhewantstoknowwhy you look so angry.Youand the photographer chosethe photograph he refers tobecause you both decided itlooked the most relaxed. Doyou look angry? Youwouldn’t have said so.Obviously this unsmilingimage of you makes him
![Page 128: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/128.jpg)
uncomfortable, and he needsyoutoaccountforthat.
If you were smiling, whatwould that tell him aboutyour composure in hisimagination?
![Page 129: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/129.jpg)
Despitethefactthatyouhavethe same sabbatical scheduleaseveryoneelse,hesays,youarealwaysonsabbatical.Youare friends so you respond,easy.
Whatdoyoumean?
Exactly,whatdoyoumean?
![Page 130: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/130.jpg)
Someoneintheaudienceasksthe man promoting his newbook on humor what makessomething funny.His answeriswhat you expect—context.After a pause he adds that ifsomeonesaidsomething,likeaboutsomeone,andyouwerewith your friends you wouldprobably laugh, but if theysaid it out in public whereblackpeoplecouldhearwhat
![Page 131: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/131.jpg)
was said, you might not,probably would not. Onlythen do you realize you areamong “the others out inpublic” and not among“friends.”
![Page 132: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/132.jpg)
Not long ago you are in aroomwheresomeoneasksthephilosopher Judith Butlerwhatmakeslanguagehurtful.You can feel everyone leanin.Ourverybeingexposesustotheaddressofanother,sheanswers.We suffer from thecondition of beingaddressable. Our emotionalopenness,sheadds,iscarriedby our addressability.
![Page 133: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/133.jpg)
Languagenavigatesthis.
For so long you thought theambition of racist languagewas to denigrate and eraseyou as a person. AfterconsideringButler’s remarks,you begin to understandyourself as renderedhypervisible in the face ofsuchlanguageacts.Languagethat feels hurtful is intendedto exploit all the ways that
![Page 134: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/134.jpg)
you are present. Youralertness, your openness, andyourdesiretoengageactuallydemand your presence, yourlookingup,yourtalkingback,and,as insaneas it is, sayingplease.
![Page 135: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/135.jpg)
Standing outside theconference room, unseen bythe two men waiting for theotherstoarrive,youhearonesay to the other that beingaround black people is likewatching a foreign filmwithout translation. Becauseyou will spend the next twohours around the round tablethatmakesconversingeasier,you consider waiting a few
![Page 136: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/136.jpg)
minutes before entering theroom.
![Page 137: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/137.jpg)
The real estate woman, whodidn’t fathomshecouldhavemadeanappointmenttoshowher house to you, spendsmuch of the walk-throughtelling your friend,repeatedly, how comfortableshe feels around her.Neitheryounoryourfriendbotherstoask who is making her feeluncomfortable.
![Page 138: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/138.jpg)
![Page 139: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/139.jpg)
![Page 140: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/140.jpg)
![Page 141: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/141.jpg)
![Page 142: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/142.jpg)
Theman at the cash registerwants to know if you thinkyourcardwillwork.Ifthisishisroutine,hedidn’tuseitonthe friend who went beforeyou.Asshepicksupherbag,shelookstoseewhatyouwillsay. She says nothing. Youwant her to say something—both as witness and as afriend. She is not you; hersilence says so. Because you
![Page 143: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/143.jpg)
are watching all this takeplace even as you participateinit,yousaynothingaswell.Come over here with me,your eyes say.Why on earthwould she? The man behindthe register returns your cardand places the sandwich andPellegrino in a bag, whichyou take from the counter.What is wrong with you?This question gets stuck inyourdreams.
![Page 144: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/144.jpg)
Another friend tells you youhave to learn not to absorbthe world. She sayssometimes she can hear herown voice saying silently towhomever—you are sayingthisthingandIamnotgoingto accept it. Your friendrefuses to carrywhat doesn’tbelongtoher.
![Page 145: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/145.jpg)
You take in thingsyoudon’twantallthetime.Thesecondyouhearorseesomeordinarymoment, all its intendedtargets, all the meaningsbehindtheretreatingseconds,as far asyouare able to see,comeintofocus.Holdup,didyou just hear, did you justsay,didyoujustsee,didyoujust do that? Then the voiceinyourheadsilentlytellsyouto take your foot off yourthroat because just getting
![Page 146: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/146.jpg)
along shouldn’t be anambition.
![Page 147: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/147.jpg)
IV
![Page 148: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/148.jpg)
To live through the dayssometimes you moan likedeer. Sometimes you sigh.The world says stop that.Another sigh. Another stopthat.Moaningelicitslaughter,sighing upsets. Perhaps eachsigh is drawn into existenceto pull in, pull under, whoknows; truth be told, youcould no more control thosesighs than that which brings
![Page 149: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/149.jpg)
thesighsabout.
![Page 150: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/150.jpg)
The sigh is the pathway tobreath; it allows breathing.That’s just self-preservation.No one fabricates that. Yousitdown,yousigh.Youstandup,yousigh.Thesighingisaworrying exhale of an ache.You wouldn’t call it anillness; still it is not theiterationofafreebeing.Whatelse to liken yourself to butananimal,theruminantkind?
![Page 151: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/151.jpg)
You like to think memorygoes far back thoughremembering was neverrecommended.Forgetallthat,the world says. The world’shada lotofpractice.Nooneshouldadheretothefactsthatcontribute to narrative, thefacts that create lives. Toyourmind, feelings arewhatcreate a person, somethingunwilling, something wild
![Page 152: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/152.jpg)
vandalizing whatever theskull holds.Those sensationsform a someone. Theheadaches begin then. Don’twearsunglassesinthehouse,the world says, though theysoothe, soothe sight, sootheyou.
![Page 153: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/153.jpg)
The head’s ache evaporatesinto a state of numbness, acaveof sighs.Over theyearsyou lose the melodrama ofseeing yourself as a patient.The sighing ceases; theheadaches remain. You holdyourheadinyourhands.Yousit still. Rarely do you liedown.Youaskyourself,howcan I help you? A glass ofwater? Sunglasses? The
![Page 154: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/154.jpg)
enteric-coated tablets live inyour purse next to yourlicense. The sole action is toturn on tennis matcheswithout the sound. Yes, andthoughwatchingtennisisn’tacure for feeling, it is a cleandisplacement of effort, will,anddisappointment.
![Page 155: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/155.jpg)
The world is wrong. Youcan’tputthepastbehindyou.It’sburied inyou; it’s turnedyour flesh into its owncupboard. Not everythingremembered is useful but itall comes from the world tobe stored in you. Who didwhattowhomonwhichday?Who said that? She saidwhat? What did he just do?Did she really just say that?
![Page 156: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/156.jpg)
He said what?What did shedo?DidIhearwhatI thinkIheard?Didthatjustcomeoutofmymouth,hismouth,yourmouth? Do you rememberwhenyousighed?
![Page 157: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/157.jpg)
Memory is a tough place.Youwere there. If this isnotthe truth, it is also not a lie.There are benefits to beingwithout nostalgia. Certainlynostalgia and being withoutnostalgia relieve the past.Sitting here, there are nomemories to remember, justtheballgoingbackandforth.Shored up by this externalnet,theproblemisnotoneof
![Page 158: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/158.jpg)
a lack of memories; theproblem is simply a lack, alackbefore,during,andafter.The chin and your cheek fitinto the palm of your hand.Feeling better?The ball isn’tbeing returned. Someone isapproaching the umpire.Someoneisupsetnow.
![Page 159: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/159.jpg)
You fumble around for theremote to cancel mute. Theplayersayssomethingandtheformerly professional umpirelooks down from her highchair as if regarding anunreasonable child, a smallanimal. The commentatorwonders if theplayerwill beabletoputthisincidentaside.No one can get behind thefeelingthatcausedapausein
![Page 160: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/160.jpg)
thematch,noteventheplayertrying to put her feelingsbehind her, dumping ballafterballintothenet.Thoughyoucanretirewithaninjury,youcan’twalkawaybecauseyoufeelbad.
![Page 161: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/161.jpg)
Feel good. Feel better.Moveforward.Let it go.Comeon.Come on. Come on. In duetime the ball is going backand forth over the net. Nowthesoundcanbeturnedbackdown. Your fingers coveryour eyes, press them deepinto their sockets—toomuchcommotion, too much for ahead remembering to ache.Moveon.Letitgo.Comeon.
![Page 162: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/162.jpg)
V
![Page 163: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/163.jpg)
Words work as release—well-oiled doors opening andclosing between intention,gesture.Apulseinaneck,theshiftiness of the hands, anunconscious blink, theconversations you have withyoureyestranslateeverythingand nothing. What will beneeded, what goes unfelt,unsaid—what has beenduplicated, redacted here,
![Page 164: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/164.jpg)
redactedthere,alteredtohideor disguise—words encodingthe bodies they cover. Anddespite everything the bodyremains.
Occasionally it is interestingto think about the outburst ifyouwouldjustcryout—
To know what you’ll soundlikeisworthnoting—
![Page 165: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/165.jpg)
In the darkened moment abody given blue light, aflashlight, enters with levity,with orwithout assumptions,doubts, with desire, thebeating heart,disappointment, with desires—
Standwhereyouare.
![Page 166: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/166.jpg)
Youbegintomovearoundinsearchofthestepsitwilltakebefore you are thrown backintoyourownbody,backintoyourownneedtobefound.
The destination is illusory.You raise your lids. No oneelseisseeking.
Youexhaustyourselflookinginto the blue light. All day
![Page 167: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/167.jpg)
blueburrowstheatmosphere.What doesn’t belong withyouwon’tbeseen.
You could build aworld outof need or you could holdeverything black and see.Yougivebackthelack.
You hold everything black.You give yourself back untilnothing’s left but the
![Page 168: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/168.jpg)
dissolvingbluesofmetaphor.
![Page 169: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/169.jpg)
Sometimes“I”issupposedtoholdwhat isnot thereuntil itis.Thenwhat is comes apartthecloseryouaretoit.
Thismakes the firstpersonasymbolforsomething.
The pronoun barely holdingthepersontogether.
![Page 170: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/170.jpg)
Someone claimed we shoulduse our skin as wallpaperknowingwecouldn’twin.
You said “I” has so muchpower;it’sinsane.
Andyouwouldlookpastme,all gloved up, in a big coat,with fancy fur around thecollar, and record a selfsaying,youshouldbescared,
![Page 171: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/171.jpg)
thefirstpersoncan’tpullyoutogether.
Shit, you are reading minds,butdidyoutry?
Triedrhyme,triedtruth,triedepistolary untruth, tried andtried.
You really did. Everyone
![Page 172: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/172.jpg)
understood you to besuffering and still everyonethoughtyouthoughtyouwerethe sun—never mind ourunlikeness, you too haveheardthenoiseinyourvoice.
Anyway, sit down. Sit herealongside.
![Page 173: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/173.jpg)
Exactly why we survive andcan look backwith furrowedbrowisbeyondme.
Itisnotsomethingtoknow.
Yourill-spirited,cooked,hellon Main Street, nobody’shere, broken-down, firstpersoncouldbeoneofmany
![Page 174: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/174.jpg)
definitions of being to passon.
The past is a life sentence, ablunt instrument aimed attomorrow.
Drag that first person out ofthe social death of history,thenwe’rekin.
![Page 175: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/175.jpg)
Kincallingoutthepastlikeaforeigner with a newlyminted“fuckyou.”
Maybeyoudon’tagree.
Maybeyoudon’tthinkso.
Maybe you are right, youdon’t really have anything toconfess.
![Page 176: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/176.jpg)
Whyareyoustanding?
![Page 177: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/177.jpg)
Listen, you, I was creating alife study of a monumentalfirst person, a Brahmin firstperson.
Ifyouneedtofeelthatway—still youare inhere andhereisnowhere.
Join me down here in
![Page 178: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/178.jpg)
nowhere.
Don’t lean against thewallpaper; sit down and pulltogether.
Yours is a strange dream, astrangereverie.
No,it’sastrangebeach;eachbody is a strange beach, and
![Page 179: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/179.jpg)
if you let in the excessemotion you will recall theAtlantic Ocean breaking onourheads.
![Page 180: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/180.jpg)
![Page 181: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/181.jpg)
![Page 182: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/182.jpg)
Yesterday called to say wewere together and you werebloodshot and again the daycarried you across a field ofhours, deep into dawn, backto now, where you arethankfulfor
what faces you, the storm,this day’s sigh as the dayshifts its leaves, the wind, a
![Page 183: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/183.jpg)
prompt against the calm youcan’tdigest.
Blue ceiling calling a bodyinto the midst of azure,oceanic,asoceanblushes theblues it can’t absorb,reflectingbackaday
thedayfrays,night,notnight,this fright passes through theeye crashing into you, is this
![Page 184: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/184.jpg)
you?
Yes, it’s me, clear the way,thenholdmeclearofthisthatfaces, the storm carrying methroughdawn
notknowingwhethertoclimbdownorupintoitseye—day,hearing a breath shiver,whoseareyou?
![Page 185: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/185.jpg)
Guard rail, spotlight, safetylock, airbag, fire lane, slipguard, night watch, far intothisdayare thedaysthisdaywas meant to take out of itsway.Anobstacle
to surrender, dusk in dawn,held open, then closing, thenopening, a red-tailed hawk,dusk at dawn, taking overblue, surveying movement,against the calm, red sky at
![Page 186: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/186.jpg)
morning,
whoseareyou?
![Page 187: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/187.jpg)
In line at the drugstore it’sfinallyyourturn,andthenit’snot as he walks in front ofyouandputshisthingsonthecounter.Thecashiersays,Sir,shewas next.Whenhe turnstoyouheistrulysurprised.
OhmyGod,Ididn’tseeyou.
![Page 188: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/188.jpg)
Youmust be in a hurry, youoffer.
No,no,no,Ireallydidn’tseeyou.
![Page 189: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/189.jpg)
You wait at the bar of therestaurant for a friend, and aman, wanting to makeconversation, nursingsomething, takes out hisphone to show you a pictureof his wife. You say, bridgethat she is, that she isbeautiful. She is, he says,beautifulandblack,likeyou.
![Page 190: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/190.jpg)
Leavingthedaytoitself,youclosethedoorbehindyouandpour a bowl of cereal, thenanother, andwould a third ifyou didn’t interrupt yourselfwith the statement—youaren’thungry.
Appetite won’t attach you toanything no matter howdepletedyoufeel.
![Page 191: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/191.jpg)
It’strue.
You lean against the sink, aglass of red wine in yourhand and then another,thinking in the morning youwill go to the gym havingslept and slept beyond theresidualsofallyesterdays.
Yes, and you do go to thegym and run in place, an
![Page 192: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/192.jpg)
entire hour running, just youand
your body running off eachundesireddesiredencounter.
![Page 193: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/193.jpg)
VI
![Page 194: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/194.jpg)
August 29, 2005 / HurricaneKatrina
Script for Situation videocomprisedofquotescollectedfrom CNN, created incollaborationwithJohnLucas
![Page 195: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/195.jpg)
Hours later, still in thedifficulty ofwhat it is to be,just like that, inside it,standing there, maybewading, maybe waving,standing where the deepwaters of everything backedup, one said, climbing overbodies, one said, strandedona roof, one said, trapped inthe building, and in thedifficulty, nobody coming
![Page 196: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/196.jpg)
andstillsomeonesaying,whocould see it coming, thedifficultyofthat.
The fiction of the factsassumes innocence,ignorance, lack of intention,misdirection; the necessaryconditions of a certain timeandplace.
Haveyouseentheirfaces?
![Page 197: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/197.jpg)
Faith, not fear, she said.She’d heard that once andwas trying to stamp thephrase on her mind. At thetime, she couldn’t speak italoud.Hewouldn’ttolerateit.He was angry. Where werethey? Where was anyone?This is a goddamnemergency,hesaid.
Then someone else said itwas the classic binary
![Page 198: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/198.jpg)
between the rich and thepoor, between the haves andthe have-nots, between thewhites and the blacks, in thedifficultyofallthat.
![Page 199: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/199.jpg)
Then each house was amumbling structure, all thatwater, buildings peelingapart, the yellow foam, thecontaminated drawl ofmildew,mold.
The missing limbs, he said,the bodies lodged in piles ofrubble,danglingfromrafters,lying facedown, arms
![Page 200: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/200.jpg)
outstretchedonparlorfloors.
And someone said, wherewere the buses? Andsimultaneously someone elsesaid, FEMA said it wasn’tsafetobethere.
What I’m hearing, she said,whichissortofscary,istheyallwanttostayinTexas.
![Page 201: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/201.jpg)
He gave me the flashlight,shesaid,Ididn’twanttoturniton.Itwasallblack.Ididn’twanttoshinealightonthat.
We never reached out toanyone to tell our story,because there’s no ending toour story, he said. Beinghonest with you, in myopinion,theyforgotaboutus.
![Page 202: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/202.jpg)
It’s awful, she said, to goback home to find your owndeadchild.It’sreallysad.
![Page 203: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/203.jpg)
Andsomanyofthepeopleinthearenahere,youknow,shesaid, were underprivilegedanyway, so this is workingverywellforthem.
You simply get chills everytime you see these poorindividuals,somanyof thesepeoplealmostallofthemthatwesee,aresopoor,someone
![Page 204: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/204.jpg)
else said, and they are soblack.
Haveyouseentheirfaces?
Then this aestheticizeddistancing fromOhmyGod,from unbelievable, fromdehydration, fromoverheating, from noelectricity,nopower,nowaytocommunicate
![Page 205: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/205.jpg)
wearedrowninghere
stillinthedifficulty
as if the faces in the imagesholdalltheconsequences
and the fiction of the factsassumes randomness andindeterminacy.
![Page 206: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/206.jpg)
He said, I don’t know whatthe water wanted. It wantedto show you no one wouldcome.
![Page 207: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/207.jpg)
He said, I don’t know whatthe water wanted. As if thenand now were not the samemoment.
He said, I don’t know whatthewaterwanted.
Callouttothem.Idon’tseethem.
![Page 208: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/208.jpg)
Calloutanyway.
Didyouseetheirfaces?
![Page 209: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/209.jpg)
![Page 210: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/210.jpg)
![Page 211: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/211.jpg)
February 26, 2012 / InMemoryofTrayvonMartin
Script for Situation videocreated in collaboration withJohnLucas
![Page 212: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/212.jpg)
My brothers are notorious.Theyhavenotbeentoprison.They have been imprisoned.Theprisonisnotaplaceyouenter. It is no place. Mybrothers are notorious. Theydo regular things, like wait.Onmybirthday they saymyname.Theywillnever forgetthat we are named. What isthatmemory?
![Page 213: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/213.jpg)
The days of our childhoodtogetherweresteepstepsintoa collapsing mind. It lookedlike we rescued ourselves,were rescued.Then there arethese days, each day of ouradult lives. They will neverforgetourwaythrough,thesebrothers, each brother, mybrother, dear brother, mydearestbrothers,dearheart—
Your hearts are broken. This
![Page 214: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/214.jpg)
is not a secret though thereare secrets. And as yet I donot understand howmy ownsorrow has turned into mybrothers’hearts.Theheartsofmy brothers are broken. If Iknew another way to be, Iwould call up a brother, Iwouldhearmyselfsaying,mybrother, dear brother, mydearestbrothers,dearheart—
On the tip of a tongue one
![Page 215: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/215.jpg)
note following another isanother path, another dawnwhere the pink sky is thebloodshot of struck, ofsleepless, of sorry, ofsenseless, shush.Thoseyearsof and before me and mybrothers,theyearsofpassage,plantation, migration, of JimCrowsegregation,ofpoverty,inner cities, profiling, of onein three, two jobs, boy, heyboy, each a felony,accumulate into the hours
![Page 216: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/216.jpg)
insideourliveswhereweareall caught hanging, the ropeinside us, the tree inside us,its roots our limbs, a throatsliced through and when weopen our mouth to speak,blossoms, o blossoms, noplace coming out, brother,dear brother, that kind ofblue.Theskyisthesilenceofbrothers all the days leadinguptomycall.
![Page 217: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/217.jpg)
If I called I’d say good-byebeforeIbrokethegood-bye.Isay good-bye before anyonecan hang up.Don’t hang up.My brother hangs up thoughhe is there. I keep talking.Thetalkkeepshimthere.Theskyisblue,kindofblue.Thedayishot.Isitcold?Areyoucold? It does get cool. Is itcool?Areyoucool?
My brother is completed by
![Page 218: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/218.jpg)
sky. The sky is his silence.Eventually, he says, it israining. It is rainingdown. Itwas raining. It stoppedraining.Itisrainingdown.Hewon’t hang up. He’s there,he’s there but he’s hung upthoughheisthere.Good-bye,Isay.Ibreakthegood-bye.Isay good-bye before anyonecan hang up, don’t hang up.Waitwithme.Waitwithmethough the waiting might bethecallofgood-byes.
![Page 219: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/219.jpg)
![Page 220: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/220.jpg)
![Page 221: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/221.jpg)
June26,2011/InMemoryofJamesCraigAnderson
Script for Situation videocreated in collaboration withJohnLucas
![Page 222: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/222.jpg)
In the next frame the pickuptruckisinmotion.Itsmotionactivates its darkness. Thepickuptruckisaconditionofdarkness inmotion. Itmakesa dark subject. You mean ablack subject. No, a blackobject.
![Page 223: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/223.jpg)
Thenthepickupisbeatingtheblack object to the groundandthetiremarksthecrushedorgans.Then theaudio, I ranthat nigger over, is itself arecord-breaking hot June dayinthetwenty-firstcentury.
Thepickup returnsus to livecruelty, like sunrise, redstreaks falling from dawn to
![Page 224: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/224.jpg)
asphalt—then again thispickup is not about beauty.It’sapureproduct.
Theannouncerpatronizes thepickup truck, no hoodlums,“just teens,” no gang, “just ateen,” “with straggly blondhair,” “a slight blond man.”The pickup is human in thispredictable way. Do yourecognizeyourself,Dedmon?
![Page 225: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/225.jpg)
In the circulating photo youare looking down.Were youdreaming of this day all thedays of your youth? In thedaydreamdidthepickuptakeyou home? Was it a pickupfueling the road to I ran thatniggerover?
Baldwin says skin colorcannot be more importantthan the human being. Andwas the pickup constructing
![Page 226: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/226.jpg)
orexplodingwhitenessoutofyou? You are so sorry. Youareangry,anexplosiveanger,an effective one: I ran thatniggerover.
![Page 227: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/227.jpg)
James Craig Anderson isdead. The pickup truck is afigure of speech. It is as thecrown standing in for thekingdom. Who told you itwasacrown?Didwetellyouthe pickup was as good ashome? You are so young,Dedmon.Youweresoyoung.
James Craig Anderson is
![Page 228: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/228.jpg)
dead. What ails you,Dedmon? What up? What’sup is James Craig Andersonis dead. So sorry. So angry,an imploding anger. It mustletyougo.Itletyougo.
![Page 229: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/229.jpg)
![Page 230: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/230.jpg)
![Page 231: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/231.jpg)
![Page 232: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/232.jpg)
![Page 233: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/233.jpg)
December4,2006/JenaSix
Script for Situation videocreated in collaboration withJohnLucas
![Page 234: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/234.jpg)
As he walked across grassstill green from summerwalkingoutoftherainastepbeyond into a piece of skydry all day for him in thismoment a shelter as he satbeneath the overhangingbranches of the “white tree”surprising himself at thecenter of the school yardthinking of the slight give inthe cushions of the counter
![Page 235: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/235.jpg)
seats he had read about intextbooksdidthehardnessofthegroundcrossthehardnessof the seats in buses as hewaitedtobenoticedlisteningto the lift and fall of theleavesabovehim?
As the boys walked acrossgrass a darkening wave asdusk folded into nightwalking toward a dawn sun
![Page 236: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/236.jpg)
punching through theblackness as they noosed therope looped around theoverhangingbranchesoftheirtree surprising themselves atthe center of the school yardthinkingthisishowtheywilllearn the ropes did thehardness in thehistorybookscross the hardness in theireyes all the eyes with thatlook without give did theygive that look to the lift andfalloftheleavesabovethem?
![Page 237: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/237.jpg)
At the high school party theboy turned to the boys asboys do walking into a fistpunching through theblackness as glass shatteredlightknockedconsciousbluntbreathing bruising therefusing boy surrounded byblows taking custody of hisbody bodying forth against aboyhood defining it byfighting through this body
![Page 238: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/238.jpg)
propelled forward and backbearing until the beer bottleshattered hardness bruisingthe refusal leveled withoutgive.
When the boys turned thecorner was inflammation inthe air already formingknuckles as they pummeledthe body being kicked andbeaten until knocked
![Page 239: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/239.jpg)
unconscious his right eyeclosed shut blood refusing toclot flowing from both earswere they hearing their ownbreathing their own earsallowing their blows to takecustody of this body fallenagainst the hardness of theconcretefloorleveledwithoutgive?
![Page 240: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/240.jpg)
Boyswillbeboysbeingboysfeelingtheircapacityheavingbutting heads righting theirwrongs in the violence ofaggravated adolescencechargingforwardintheirwayexperiencing the position ofpositioning which is aposition foronlyonekindofboy face it know it for theother boy for the other boysthe fists the feet criminalized
![Page 241: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/241.jpg)
already are weapons alreadyexploding the landscape andthenthelitigioushittingbackislifeimprisoned.
![Page 242: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/242.jpg)
![Page 243: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/243.jpg)
![Page 244: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/244.jpg)
Stop-and-Frisk
Script for Situation videocreated in collaboration withJohnLucas
![Page 245: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/245.jpg)
Iknewwhateverwasinfrontof me was happening andthen the police vehicle cametoascreechinghaltinfrontofmeliketheyweresettingupablockade. Everywhere wereflashes, a siren sounding anda stretched-out roar. Get ontheground.Getonthegroundnow.ThenIjustknew.
![Page 246: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/246.jpg)
Andyouarenot theguyandstill you fit the descriptionbecausethereisonlyoneguywho isalways theguyfittingthedescription.
I left my client’s houseknowing I would be pulledover. I knew. I just knew. Iopened my briefcase on thepassenger seat, just so theycould see. Yes officer rolled
![Page 247: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/247.jpg)
around onmy tongue,whichgrewout of a bell that couldnever ring because itsemergency was a tolling Iwasmeanttoswallow.
Inalandscapedrawnfromanocean bed, you can’t driveyourself sane—so angry youare crying. You can’t driveyourself sane. This motionwears a guy out.Ourmotionis wearing you out and still
![Page 248: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/248.jpg)
youarenotthatguy.
![Page 249: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/249.jpg)
Then flashes, a siren, astretched-out roar—and youare not the guy and still youfit the description becausethere is only one guywho isalways the guy fitting thedescription.
Getontheground.Getontheground now. I must havebeen speeding. No, you
![Page 250: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/250.jpg)
weren’t speeding. I wasn’tspeeding? You didn’t doanything wrong. Then whyare you pulling me over?Why am I pulled over? Putyourhandswheretheycanbeseen. Put your hands in theair.Putyourhandsup.
Thenyouarestretchedoutonthehood.Thencuffed.Getonthegroundnow.
![Page 251: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/251.jpg)
Each time it begins in thesame way, it doesn’t beginthe same way, each time itbegins it’s thesame.Flashes,asiren, thestretched-out roar—
Maybe because home was ahood the officer could notafford, not that a reasonwasneeded, I was pulled out of
![Page 252: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/252.jpg)
my vehicle a block frommydoor, handcuffed and pushedinto the police vehicle’sbackseat, the officer’s kneepressing into my collarbone,the officer’s warm breathvacating a face creased intothe smile of its own privatejoke.
Each time it begins in thesame way, it doesn’t beginthe same way, each time it
![Page 253: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/253.jpg)
beginsit’sthesame.
Go ahead hit memotherfucker fled my lipsandtheofficerdidnotneedtohit me, the officer did notneed anything from meexceptthelookonmyfaceonthe drive across town. Youcan’tdriveyourselfsane.Youarenot insane.Ourmotioniswearingyouout.Youarenottheguy.
![Page 254: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/254.jpg)
Thisiswhatitlookslike.Youknow this is wrong. This isnot what it looks like. Youneed to be quiet. This iswrong. You need to closeyourmouthnow.Thisiswhatit looks like. Why are youtalking if you haven’t doneanythingwrong?
Andyouarenot theguyand
![Page 255: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/255.jpg)
still you fit the descriptionbecausethereisonlyoneguywho isalways theguyfittingthedescription.
![Page 256: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/256.jpg)
Inalandscapedrawnfromanocean bed, you can’t driveyourself sane—so angry youcan’tdriveyourselfsane.
The charge the officerdecided onwas exhibition ofspeed. I was told, after thefingerprinting,tostandnaked.I stood naked. It was onlythenIwasinstructedtodress,
![Page 257: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/257.jpg)
to leave, to walk all thosemilesbackhome.
Andstillyouarenot theguyand still you fit thedescription because there isonly one guy who is alwaystheguyfittingthedescription.
![Page 258: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/258.jpg)
![Page 259: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/259.jpg)
![Page 260: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/260.jpg)
LONGFORMBIRTHCERTIFICATE
And yes, the inaudiblespreadsacrossstatelines.
Its call backing away fromthefaceofAmerica.
Bloodshot eyes calling on
![Page 261: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/261.jpg)
America
that can’t look forward forbeingcalledback.
America turned loose onAmerica—
All living is listening for athroattoopen—
![Page 262: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/262.jpg)
The length of its silenceshapinglives.
Whenheopenedhismouthtospeak, his speech was whatwaswritteninthesilence,
the length of the silencebecomingaliving.
![Page 263: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/263.jpg)
Andwhathadbeen
“I do solemnly swear that Iwillfaithfully
execute the office ofPresidentoftheUnitedStates…”
becomes
![Page 264: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/264.jpg)
“I do solemnly swear that Iwillexecute
the office of President to theUnitedStatesfaithfully…”
![Page 265: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/265.jpg)
August 4, 2011 / InMemoryofMarkDuggan
![Page 266: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/266.jpg)
ThoughthishouseinLondonhas been remodeled, thestairs,despitebeingcarpeted,creak.Whatwas imaginedasasilentretreatfromthepartyseems to sound through thehouse. By the fifth step youdecidetositdownandonthewall next to you is a tornpassport photo of half awoman’s face blown up andframedasart.Wheredidyou
![Page 267: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/267.jpg)
imagineyouweregoing?yousayaloudtoher.
“The purpose of art,” JamesBaldwinwrote,“istolaybarethe questions hidden by theanswers.” He might havebeen channelingDostoyevsky’s statement that“wehavealltheanswers.Itisthe questions we do notknow.”
![Page 268: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/268.jpg)
Where can I imagine youhavebeen?
A man, a novelist with theface of theEnglish sky—fullof weather, always inresponse, constantly shifting,clouding over only to clearbriefly—stands before you,his head leaning against thesamewallasthetorn-upgirl.You begin discussing therecent riots in Hackney.
![Page 269: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/269.jpg)
Despite what is being saidyou get lost in his face, hisresponsiveness bringingwhatreadsasintimacytohiseyes.HesaystheriotsweresimilartotheRodneyKing–LAriots;however, he feels the UKmedia handled them verydifferently from the USmedia.
The Hackney riots began atthe end of the summer of
![Page 270: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/270.jpg)
2011 when Mark Duggan, ablack man, a husband, afather, and a suspected drugdealer, was shot dead byofficersfromScotlandYard’sOperation Trident (a specialoperations unit addressinggun crime in blackcommunities). As the riotingand looting continued,government officials labeledthe violent outbreak“opportunism” and “sheercriminality,” and the media
![Page 271: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/271.jpg)
picked up this language.Whatever the reason for theriots, images of the looters’continuedrampageeventuallydisplaced the fact that anunarmed man was shot todeath.
In theUnited States,RodneyKing’s beating, caught onvideo, trumped all otherimages. If there had been avideo of Duggan being
![Page 272: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/272.jpg)
executed, theremight be lessambiguity around whatstarted the riots, you hazardtosay.
Will you write aboutDuggan? the man wants toknow. Why don’t you? youask. Me? he asks, lookingslightlyirritated.
How difficult is it for one
![Page 273: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/273.jpg)
body to feel the injusticewheeled at another? Are thetensions,therecognitions,thedisappointments, and thefailures that exploded in theriotstooforeign?
A similar accumulation andrelease drove manyAmericans to respond to theRodneyKingbeating.Beforeit happened, it had happenedand happened. As a black
![Page 274: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/274.jpg)
body in the States, yourresponsewasnecessaryifyouweretoholdontothefictionthat this was an event“wrongfully ordinary,”therefore a snafu within theordinary.
Though the moment hadoccurred and occurred againwiththedeaths,beatings,andimprisonment of otherrandom, unarmed blackmen,
![Page 275: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/275.jpg)
Rodney King’s beatingsomehow cut off the airsupplyintheUSbodypoliticby virtue of the excessive,blatantbarrageof racismandcompromised justice thatfollowed on the heels of hisbeating. And though in thisman’sbody,themanmadeofEnglish sky, grief exists forDuggan as a black mangunneddown,thereisnottheurgency brought on by anoverflow of compromises,
![Page 276: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/276.jpg)
deaths, and tempers specifictoaprofilewoketoandgonetosleeptoeachday.
Arguably, there is nosimultaneity between theEnglish sky and the bodybeingorderedtorestinpeace.Thisdifference,whichhas todo with “the war (the blackbody’s) presence hasoccasioned,” to quoteBaldwin, makes all the
![Page 277: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/277.jpg)
difference.Onecouldbecomeacquainted with theinflammation that existedaroundDuggan’sbodyand itwould be uncomfortable.Grief comes out ofrelationships to subjects overtimeandnottoanysubjectintheory, you tell the Englishsky, to give him an out. Thedistance between you andhim is thrown into relief:bodies moving through thesame life differently. With
![Page 278: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/278.jpg)
your eyes wide open youconsider what this man andyou, twomiddle-aged artists,inahouseworthmorethanamillion pounds, share withDuggan. Mark Duggan, youare part of the misery.Apparently your new friendwon’t write about MarkDuggan or the London riots;still you continue searchinghis face because there issomething to find, an answertoquestion.
![Page 279: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/279.jpg)
![Page 280: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/280.jpg)
![Page 281: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/281.jpg)
BLACK-BLANC-BEUR
October 10, 2006 / WorldCup
Script for Situation videocreated in collaboration withJohnLucas
![Page 282: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/282.jpg)
BLACK-BLANC-BEUR
Something is there before usthat is neither the livingpersonhimselfnoranysortofreality, neither the same asthe one who is alive, noranother.
What is there is the absolutecalm of what has found its
![Page 283: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/283.jpg)
place.(MauriceBlanchot)
Every day I think aboutwhereIcamefromandIamstillproudtobewhoIam…(ZinedineZidane)
Big Algerian shit, dirtyterrorist,nigger.(Accountsoflip readers responding to thetranscriptoftheWorldCup.)
![Page 284: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/284.jpg)
Perhaps the most insidiousand least understood form ofsegregation is that of theword.(RalphEllison)
The Algerian men, for theirpart, are a target of criticismfortheirEuropeancomrades.
Arise directly to the level oftragedy.
![Page 285: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/285.jpg)
Notice too, illustrations ofthis kind of racial prejudicecanbemultipliedindefinitely.
Clearly,theAlgerianswho,inview of the intensity of therepression and the frenziedcharacter of the oppression,thoughttheycouldanswertheblows received without anyserious problem ofconscience.(FrantzFanon)
![Page 286: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/286.jpg)
BLACK-BLANC-BEUR
And there is no (Black)whohas not felt, briefly or forlong periods, with anguishsharp or dull, in varyingdegreesandtovaryingeffect,simple, naked, andunanswerablehatred;whohasnot wanted to smash anywhite face hemay encounter
![Page 287: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/287.jpg)
in a day, to violate, out ofmotives of the cruelestvengeance … to break thebodiesofallwhitepeopleandbringthemlow,aslowasthedust into which he himselfhas been and is beingtrampled; no black who hasnot had to make his ownprecarious adjustment… yettheadjustmentmustbemade—ratheritmustbeattempted.(JamesBaldwin)
![Page 288: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/288.jpg)
Do you think two minutesfromtheendofaWorldCupfinal, two minutes from theendofmycareer,Iwantedtodothat?(ZinedineZidane)
Eachdecisiongaverisetothesame hesitations, producedthesamedespair.
![Page 289: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/289.jpg)
Nooneisfree.
Forall thathe is,peoplewillsay he remains for us anArab. “You can’t get awayfromnature.”(FrantzFanon)
BLACK-BLANC-BEUR
Big Algerian shit, dirtyterrorist. (Accounts of lipreaders responding to the
![Page 290: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/290.jpg)
transcriptoftheWorldCup.)
Let him do his spite: MyserviceswhichIhavedone…Shall out-tongue hiscomplaints. (WilliamShakespeare)
Whensuchthingshappen,hemustgrithisteeth,walkawaya few steps, elude the
![Page 291: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/291.jpg)
passerbywhodrawsattentionto him, who gives otherpassersby the desire either tofollow the example or tocome to his defense. (FranzFanon)
Big Algerian shit, dirtyterrorist,nigger.(Accountsoflip readers responding to thetranscriptoftheWorldCup.)
![Page 292: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/292.jpg)
Thatmanwho is forcedeachday to snatch his manhood,his identity,outof thefireofhuman cruelty that rages todestroy it, knows …something about himself andhuman life that no school onearth—andindeed,nochurch—can teach.He achieves hisown authority, and that isunshakable.
This is because, in order to
![Page 293: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/293.jpg)
save his life, he is forced tolook beneath appearances, totake nothing for granted, tohear the meaning behind thewords.
We hear, thenwe remember.(JamesBaldwin)
The state of emergency isalso always a state ofemergence.(HomiBhabha)
![Page 294: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/294.jpg)
BLACK-BLANC-BEUR
But at this moment—fromwhence came the spirit Idon’t know—I resolved tofight; and, suiting my actionto the resolution …(FrederickDouglass)
![Page 295: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/295.jpg)
Whatwehavehereisnotthebringing to light of acharacter known andfrequented a thousand timesin the imagination or instories.
It is the White Man whocreates the blackman.But itistheblackmanwhocreates.
This thing was there, we
![Page 296: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/296.jpg)
grasped it in the livingmotion.(MauriceBlanchot)
What he said “touched thedeepest part of me.”(ZinedineZidane)
The rebuttal assumes anoriginalform.
![Page 297: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/297.jpg)
This endless struggle toachieve and reveal andconfirm a human identity,humanauthority,contains,forall itshorror, somethingverybeautiful.(JamesBaldwin)
![Page 298: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/298.jpg)
July 29–August 18, 2014 /MakingRoom
Script for Public Fiction atHammerMuseum
![Page 299: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/299.jpg)
On the train the womanstanding makes youunderstand there are no seatsavailable. And, in fact, thereis one. Is the woman gettingoff at the next stop?No, shewouldratherstandallthewaytoUnionStation.
The spacenext to theman isthe pause in a conversation
![Page 300: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/300.jpg)
you are suddenly rushing tofill.Youstepquicklyoverthewoman’s fear, a fear sheshares.Youletherhaveit.
The man doesn’tacknowledge you as you sitdownbecausethemanknowsmore about the unoccupiedseat than you do. For him,you imagine, it is more likebreath than wonder; he hashadtothinkaboutitsomuch
![Page 301: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/301.jpg)
youwouldn’tcallitthought.
When another passengerleaves his seat and thestanding woman sits, youglanceoverattheman.Heisgazing out the window intowhatlookslikedarkness.
Yousitnexttothemanonthetrain, bus, in the plane,waiting room, anywhere he
![Page 302: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/302.jpg)
could be forsaken. You putyour body there in proximityto, adjacent to, alongside,within.
You don’t speak unless youare spoken to and your bodyspeaks to the space you filland you keep trying to fill itexcept the space belongs tothe body of the man next toyou,nottoyou.
![Page 303: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/303.jpg)
Where he goes the spacefollows him. If the man lefthis seatbeforeUnionStationyouwouldsimplybeapersonin a seat on the train. Youwould cease to struggleagainst the unoccupied seatwhen where why the spacewon’tloseitsmeaning.
Youimagineifthemanspoketo you he would say, it’sokay, I’m okay, you don’t
![Page 304: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/304.jpg)
need to sit here. You don’tneed to sit and you sit andlook past him into thedarkness the train is movingthrough.Atunnel.
All the while the darknessallows you to look at him.Does he feel you looking athim? You suspect so. Whatdoes suspicion mean? Whatdoessuspiciondo?
![Page 305: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/305.jpg)
The soft gray-green of yourcottoncoattouchesthesleeveof him. You are shoulder toshoulderthoughstandingyoucould feel shadowed.Yousitto repair whom who? Youerase that thought. And itmightbetoolateforthat.
Itmightforeverbetoolateortooearly.Thetrainmovestoofastforyoureyestoadjusttoanythingbeyondtheman,the
![Page 306: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/306.jpg)
window, the tiled tunnel, itsslick darkness. Occasionally,awhitelightflickersbylikeadisplacedsound.
From across the aisle tracksroom harbor world a womanasksamanintherowsaheadif he would mind switchingseats. She wishes to sit withherdaughterorson.Youhearbutyoudon’thear.Youcan’tsee.
![Page 307: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/307.jpg)
It’s then themannext toyouturns to you. And as if frominside your own head youagreethat ifanyoneasksyoutomove, you’ll tell themwearetravelingasafamily.
![Page 308: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/308.jpg)
November 23, 2012 / InMemory of Jordan RussellDavis
![Page 309: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/309.jpg)
February 15, 2014 / TheJusticeSystem
![Page 310: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/310.jpg)
VII
![Page 311: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/311.jpg)
Some years there exists awantingtoescape—
you, floating above yourcertainache—
stilltheachecoexists.
Callthattheimmanentyou—
![Page 312: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/312.jpg)
Youareyouevenbeforeyou
growintounderstandingyou
arenotanyone,worthless,
notworthyou.
Even as your own weightinsistsyouarehere,fightingoff
![Page 313: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/313.jpg)
theweightofnonexistence.
And still this life parts yourlids,youseeyou seeing your extendinghand
asafallingwave—
![Page 314: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/314.jpg)
Itheyhesheweyouturnonlytodiscovertheencounter
tobealientothisplace.
Wait.
The patience is in the living.
![Page 315: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/315.jpg)
Timeopensouttoyou.
The opening, between youandyou,occupied,zonedforanencounter,
giventhehistoriesofyouandyou—
Andalways,whoisthisyou?
![Page 316: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/316.jpg)
Thestartofyou,eachday,apresencealready—
Heyyou—
![Page 317: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/317.jpg)
Slipping down burying theyou buried within. You areeverywhere and you arenowhereintheday.
Theoutsidecomesin—
Thenyou,heyyou—
![Page 318: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/318.jpg)
Overheardinthemoonlight.
Overcomeinthemoonlight.
Soon you are sitting around,publicly listening, when youhear this—what happens toyou doesn’t belong to you,onlyhalfconcernsyou.Heisspeaking of the legionnairesin Claire Denis’s film Beau
![Page 319: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/319.jpg)
Travail and you are pulledback into the body of youreceivingthenothinggaze—
Theworld out there insistingon this only half concernsyou. What happens to youdoesn’t belong to you, onlyhalf concerns you. It’s notyours.Notyoursonly.
![Page 320: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/320.jpg)
And still a world begins itsfuriouserasure—
Who do you think you are,sayingItome?
Younothing.
Younobody.
![Page 321: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/321.jpg)
You.
A body in the world drownsinit—
Heyyou—
Allourfeveredhistorywon’tinstillinsight,won’tturnabodyconscious,
![Page 322: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/322.jpg)
won’tmakethatlookin the eyes say yes, thoughthereisnothing
tosolve
even as each moment is ananswer.
![Page 323: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/323.jpg)
Don’t say I if it means solittle,holds the little forming noone.
You are not sick, you areinjured—
youachefortherestoflife.
![Page 324: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/324.jpg)
How to care for the injuredbody,
the kind of body that can’tholdthecontentitisliving?
Andwhereisthesafestplacewhenthatplacemustbesomeplaceotherthaninthebody?
![Page 325: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/325.jpg)
Even now your voiceentanglesthismouthwhose words are here aspulse,strummingshutout,shutin,shutup—
Youcannotsay—
Abodytranslatesitsyou—
youthere,heyyou
![Page 326: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/326.jpg)
evenasitlosesthelocationofitsmouth.
When you lay your body inthebodyentered as if skin and bonewerepublicplaces,
when you lay your body inthebodyentered as if you’re the
![Page 327: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/327.jpg)
groundyouwalkon,
youknownomemoryshouldliveinthesememories
becomingthebodyofyou.
You slow all existence downwithyourcall
![Page 328: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/328.jpg)
detectable only as sky. Thenight’syawnabsorbs you as you lie downatthewrongangle
tothesunreadyalreadytoletgoofyourhand.
Waitwithmethoughthewaiting,waitup,might take until nothing
![Page 329: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/329.jpg)
whatsoeverwasdone.
![Page 330: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/330.jpg)
Tobeleft,notalone,theonlywish—
to call you out, to call outyou.
Whoshouted,you?You
shoutedyou,youthemurmur
![Page 331: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/331.jpg)
in the air, you sometimessounding like you, yousometimessayingyou,
gonowhere,
benoonebutyoufirst—
Nobody notices, only you’veknown,
![Page 332: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/332.jpg)
you’renotsick,notcrazy,notangry,notsad—
It’sjustthis,you’reinjured.
![Page 333: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/333.jpg)
Everythingshadedeverythingdarkened everythingshadowed
isthestrippedisthestruck—
isthetraceistheaftertaste.
![Page 334: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/334.jpg)
Itheyhesheweyouweretooconcluded yesterday to knowwhateverwasdonecouldalsobe done,was also done,wasneverdone—
The worst injury is feelingyoudon’tbelongsomuch
toyou—
![Page 335: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/335.jpg)
![Page 336: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/336.jpg)
![Page 337: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/337.jpg)
Whenthewaitresshandsyourfriendthecardshetookfromyou, you laugh and askwhatelse her privilege gets her?Oh, my perfect life, sheanswers. Then you both arelaughingsohard,everyoneintherestaurantsmiles.
![Page 338: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/338.jpg)
Closed to traffic, thepreviously unexpressivestreet fillswith small bodies.One father, having let go ofhischild’shand,standsonthesteps of a building andwatches.Youcan’ttellwhichchild is his, though youfollow his gaze. It seems tobelongtoallthechildrenasitenvelopstheirplay.Youwereabout to enter your building,
![Page 339: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/339.jpg)
but do not want to leave thescopeofhisvigilance.
![Page 340: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/340.jpg)
July13,2013
![Page 341: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/341.jpg)
A friend writes of thenumbing effects of hummingand it returns you to yourown sigh. It’s no longeraudible. You’ve grown intoit. Some call it aging—aninternalized liquid smokeblurringordinaryache.
Just this morning another,Whatdidhesay?
![Page 342: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/342.jpg)
Comeon,getbackinthecar.Yourpartnerwantstofaceoffwithamouthandwhoknowswhat handheld objects theothervehiclecarries.
Trayvon Martin’s namesounds from the car radio adozen times each half hour.Youpullyour loveback intothe seat because though nooneseemstobechasingyou,the justice system has other
![Page 343: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/343.jpg)
plans.
Yes,andthisishowyouareacitizen: Come on. Let it go.Moveon.
Despite the air-conditioningyoupull the button back andthewindow slides down intoits door-sleeve. A breezetouches your cheek. Assomethingshould.
![Page 344: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/344.jpg)
Whatfeelsmorethanfeeling?You are afraid there issomething you are missing,somethingobvious.Afeelingthat feelings might beirrelevant if they point toone’sirrelevancepullsatyou.
Do feelings lose their feelingif they speak to a lack offeeling? Can feelings be a
![Page 345: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/345.jpg)
hazard, a warning sign, adisturbance, distaste, thedisgrace?Don’t feel likeyouaremistaken. It’snot that (Isit not that?) you areoversensitive ormisunderstanding.
You know feelingsdestabilize since everyoneyouask is laughing thatkindof close-the-gap laughter: allthe ha-ha’s wanting
![Page 346: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/346.jpg)
uninterruptedviews.Don’tberidiculous.None of the otherblack friends feel that wayandhowyoufeelishowyoufeelevenifwhatyouperceiveisn’ttiedtowhatis…
Whatis?
![Page 347: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/347.jpg)
Andso itgoesuntil thevistaincludesonlydisplacementoffeeling back into the body,which gave birth to thefeelings that don’t sitcomfortably inside thecommunal.
You smile dumbly at theworld because you are stillfeeling if only the feeling
![Page 348: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/348.jpg)
could be known and thisbrings on the moment yourecognizeasdesire.
![Page 349: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/349.jpg)
Everydayyourmouthopensand receives the kiss theworldoffers,whichsealsyoushut though you are feelingsick to your stomach aboutthe beginning of the feelingthat was born fromunderstanding and nowstumbles around in you—thego-along-to-get-along tonguepushing your tongue aside.Yes, and your mouth is full
![Page 350: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/350.jpg)
up and the feeling is stilltottering—
![Page 351: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/351.jpg)
“Thesubjectofsomanyfilmsistheprotectionofthevictim,and I think, I don’t give adamnabout those things. It’snot the job of films to nursepeople. With what’shappeninginthechemistryoflove, I don’t want to be anurseoradoctor, I justwanttobeanobserver.”
![Page 352: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/352.jpg)
As a child, Claire Deniswished to be a nurse; she isnolongerachild.Yearshavepassed and so soon we lovethis world, so soon we arewillingtocoexistwithdustinoureyes.
![Page 353: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/353.jpg)
And,ofcourse,youwant thedays to add up to somethingmorethanyoucameinoutofthesunanddrankthepotablewater of your developedworld—
yes, andbecausewordshangin the air like pollen, thethroatcloses.Youhackaway.
![Page 354: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/354.jpg)
That time and that time andthattimetheoutsideblisteredthe inside of you, wordsoutmaneuvered years, hadyou in a chokehold, everypart roughed up, the eyesdripping.
That’s the bruise the ice intheheartwasmeanttoice.
To arrive like this every day
![Page 355: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/355.jpg)
forittobelikethistohavesomanymemoriesandnoothermemory than these for aslong as they can beremembered to rememberthis.
Though a share of allremembering, a measure ofall memory, is breath and tobreathe you have to create atruce—
![Page 356: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/356.jpg)
atrucewith thepatienceofastethoscope.
![Page 357: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/357.jpg)
Icanhear theevenbreathingthat creates passages todreams. And yes, I want tointerrupt to tell him her usyoume Idon’tknowhow toend what doesn’t have anending.
Tell me a story, he says,wrapping his arms aroundme.
![Page 358: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/358.jpg)
Yesterday, I begin, I waswaiting in thecar for time topass.Awomanpulledinandstarted toparkher car facingmine.Oureyesmetandwhatpassed passed as quickly asthelookaway.Shebackedupand parked on the other sideof the lot. I could havefollowed her to worry myquestion but I had to go, Iwas expected on court, Igrabbedmyracket.
![Page 359: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/359.jpg)
The sunrise is slow andcloudy,dragging the light in,butbarely.
Didyouwin?heasks.
It wasn’t a match, I say. Itwasalesson.
![Page 360: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/360.jpg)
![Page 361: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/361.jpg)
![Page 362: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/362.jpg)
![Page 363: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/363.jpg)
![Page 364: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/364.jpg)
Images
Page6MichaelDavidMurphyTitle:JimCrowRd.Date:2008Credit: Michael DavidMurphy
![Page 365: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/365.jpg)
Page19KateClarkTitle:LittleGirl,2008infant caribou hide, foam,clay,pins,thread,rubbereyes15×28×19inches
Page23HennessyYoungmanScreen grab from ARTTHOUGHTZ: How to Be aSuccessfulBlackArtistCourtesyofJaysonMusson
![Page 366: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/366.jpg)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L_NnX8oj-g
Page33NickCaveTitle:SoundsuitsPhotobyJamesPrinzCourtesy Jack ShainmanGallery,NewYork
Page37Title: Tennis-Brazil-
![Page 367: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/367.jpg)
Wozniacki-ExhibitionDate:December7,2012Collection:AFPCredit:AFP/GettyImages
Page41Title: Untitled (Rutgerswomen’sbasketballteam)Datephotographed:April10,2007Credit: MIKESEGAR/Reuters/Corbis
![Page 368: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/368.jpg)
Pages52–53GlennLigonTitle: Untitled (I Feel MostColored When I Am ThrownAgainst a Sharp WhiteBackground),1990–91oilstickandgessoonpanel80×30inches
Page74MelChinTitle: VOLUME X No. 5BlackAngel
![Page 369: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/369.jpg)
TheFunkandWagfromAtoZ, 2012, excised printedpages from The UniversalStandard Encyclopedia,1953–56, by Wilfred Funk,Inc., archival water-basedglue,paper524collages,eachvaries from 8 × 11 inches to17×23inches.ImagecourtesyofMelChinDescription: A popular,vintage encyclopedia isprocessed to representcontradictorylayersandlogic
![Page 370: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/370.jpg)
of personal and publicinformation.Theimageshavebeen extracted from alltwenty-five volumes of a1953–56 Funk & WagnallEncyclopedia andreconfigured as collages,unleashing the potentiality ofimages trapped by historicalcontext. New political andpsychological associationsemerge in the black-and-whitepresentationthatcoversthewalls.
![Page 371: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/371.jpg)
Pages86–87ToyinOdutolaTitle: Uncertain, yetReserved. (Adeola. AbujaAirport,Nigeria.),2012pen ink and acrylic ink onboard20×30inches29½ × 39½ × 1½ inchesframed
Page91HultonArchives
![Page 372: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/372.jpg)
Title:PublicLynchingDate:August30,1930Credit:GettyImages(Image alteration withpermission:JohnLucas)
Pages96–97JohnLucasTitle:MaleII&I,1996gelatinsilverprintsandfoundobjects72×60inches
![Page 373: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/373.jpg)
Pages102–103CarrieMaeWeemsTitle:BlueBlackBoy,1997From the series “ColoredPeople”silverprintwithtextonmat30×30inches
Pages110–111GlennLigonTitle:Untitled(speech/crowd)#2,2000silkscreen,coaldust,oilstick,
![Page 374: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/374.jpg)
glueonpaper40×54inches(101.6×137.2cm)
Page119RadcliffeBaileyTitle: Cerebral Caverns,2011wood, glass, and 30 plasterheads97×100×60inches
![Page 375: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/375.jpg)
Pages122–128JohnLucasABCNEWSIMAGE
Page147WangechiMutuTitle:SleepingHeads,2006mixed media, collage onMylar; “wounded wall”:puncturedlatexSet of 8: Approx. 17 × 22inches(43.2×55.9cm)each.
![Page 376: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/376.jpg)
Wallinstallationdoneonsite.Courtesy of the artist andSusanneVielmetterLosAngelesProjectsThePinnellCollection
Page160Joseph Mallord WilliamTurnerTitle: The Slave Ship, circa1840oiloncanvas© Burstein
![Page 377: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/377.jpg)
Collection/CORBIS
Page161Joseph Mallord WilliamTurnerDetailofFishAttackingSlavefromTheSlaveShip© BursteinCollection/CORBIS
![Page 378: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/378.jpg)
WorksReferenced
Baldwin,James.TheFireNextTime.NewYork:Laurel-Dell,1962.
——.NotesofaNativeSon.NewYork:DialPress,1963.
![Page 379: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/379.jpg)
Berlant,Lauren.CruelOptimism.Durham,NC:DukeUniversityPress,2011.
Bhabha,HomiK.TheLocationofCulture.LondonandNewYork:Routledge,1994.
Blanchot,Maurice.TheSpaceofLiterature.Trans.AnnSmock.Lincoln:University
![Page 380: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/380.jpg)
ofNebraskaPress,1982.
Douglass,Frederick.NarrativeoftheLifeofFrederickDouglass,anAmericanSlave.1845.Reprint,NewYork:PenguinBooks,1986.
Ellison,Ralph.InvisibleMan.NewYork:RandomHouse,1992.
![Page 381: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/381.jpg)
Fanon,Frantz.TheWretchedoftheEarth.NewYork:GrovePress,1963.
——.ADyingColonialism.NewYork:GrovePress,1965.
Hammons,David.ConcertoinBlackandBlue(mixedmedia),2002.
![Page 382: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/382.jpg)
Lee,Kevin.http://mubi.com/notebook/posts/spectacularly-intimate-an-interview-with-claire-denis.PublishedonApril2,2009.
Lowell,Robert.LifeStudies.NewYork:Farrar,StrausandGiroux,1959.
——.FortheUnionDead.NewYork:Farrar,Strausand
![Page 383: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/383.jpg)
Giroux,1964.
Shakespeare,William.TheTragedyofOthello,theMoorofVenice.NewYork:WashingtonSquarePress,1993.
Williams,Patricia.TheAlchemyofRaceandRights:TheDiaryofaLawProfessor.Cambridge,MA:
![Page 384: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/384.jpg)
HarvardUniversityPress,1991.
Youngman,Hennessy/Musson,Jaysonhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3L_NnX8oj-g&list=UU1kdURWGVjuksaqGK3oGoxAhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNXL0SYJ2eU&list=UU1kdURWGVjuksaqGK3oGoxA
Zidane,Zinedine:
![Page 385: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/385.jpg)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2004/apr/04/sport.features
![Page 386: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/386.jpg)
Grateful acknowledgment ismade to the editors of thepublications in which poemsand essays from this bookfirst appeared: Blackbird,BostonReview,LanaTurner,Ploughshares, Poetry, PoetsWriting Across Borders: TheStrangest of Theatres, andPushcartPrizeXXXVIII:BestoftheSmallPresses.
![Page 387: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/387.jpg)
Immeasurable gratitude toElizabeth Alexander,Catherine Barnett, CalvinBedient,LaurenBerlant,Mei-mei Berssenbrugge, SarahBlake, Jericho Brown,Prudence Carter, Jeff Clark,AllisonCoudert,NickFlynn,Louise Glück, HillaryGravendyk,KateGreenstreet,AnnieGuthrie,RupertGrant,Karen Green, MarilynHacker, Christine Hume,Melanie Joseph, Nancy
![Page 388: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/388.jpg)
Jugan, Alex Juhasz, BhanuKapil, Sally Keith, AaronKunin, Robin Coste Lewis,Diana Linden, CaseyLlewellyn, Beth Loffreda,MaggieNelson,LisaPearson,Maitreyi Pesques, NicolasPesques, Adam Plunkett,Patricia Powell, RomarilynRalston, Ira Sadoff, SarahJuliette Sasson, SarahSchulman, Lisa Sewell,Connie Rogers Tilton, JenTilton, Susan Wheeler, and
![Page 389: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/389.jpg)
RonaldoWilson.
To everyonewho generouslyshared their strories, thankyou.
Thank you also to PomonaCollege, UCross Foundation,and Graywolf Press. Thankyou,KatieDublinskiandJeffShotts.
![Page 390: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/390.jpg)
And finally, jaw-droppinggratitude toUlaandJohn foreverything.
![Page 391: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/391.jpg)
ClaudiaRankineistheauthorof four previous books,including Don’t Let Me BeLonely: An American Lyric.She is a chancellor of theAcademy of American Poetsand the winner of the 2014Jackson Poetry Prize. SheteachesatPomonaCollege.
![Page 392: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/392.jpg)
This book is made possiblethroughapartnershipwiththeCollege of Saint Benedict,and honors the legacy of S.Mariella Gable, adistinguished teacher at theCollege.
Previous titles in this seriesinclude:
![Page 393: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/393.jpg)
LoverboybyVictoriaRedelTheHouseonEcclesRoadbyJudithKitchenOne Vacant Chair by JoeCoomerThe Weatherman by ClintMcCownCollected Poems by JaneKenyonVariations on the Theme ofanAfricanDictatorshipby
NuruddinFarah:Sweet andSourMilk
![Page 394: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/394.jpg)
SardinesCloseSesame
DuendebyTracyK.SmithAll of It Singing: New andSelected Poems by LindaGreggTheArtofSyntax:RhythmofThought,RhythmofSong
byEllenBryantVoigtHow toEscape fromaLeperColonybyTiphanieYaniqueOne Day I Will Write AboutThis Place by BinyavangaWainaina
![Page 395: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/395.jpg)
TheConvert:ATaleofExileand Extremism by DeborahBakerOn Sal Mal Lane by RuFreeman
Support for this series hasbeenprovidedbytheManitouFund as part of the WarnerReadingProgram.
![Page 396: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/396.jpg)
BookdesignandcompositionbyJohnLucas.Manufacturedby Versa Press on acid-free,80#mattecoatedpaper.
![Page 397: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/397.jpg)
TableofContents
HalfTitlePageTitlePageCopyrightDedicationIIIIIIIVVVI
![Page 398: Citizen: An American Lyric](https://reader031.vdocuments.net/reader031/viewer/2022022416/586a383c1a28ab51458bc8b7/html5/thumbnails/398.jpg)
VIIImagesWorksReferencedAbouttheAuthor