Thinking about Ron Silliman; Not A Retraction, Just a (kinder, gentler) Sequel

64.

Part of me still regrets naming a name

Singling out one for what other mainstreams

Do as well. [1]Okay to let out some steam   

And acknowledge my own failings in shame,

But I sound too mean like I lost the dream

That includes him too if he don’t exclude.

“Separate for strength!”s a great attitude

“We’re not anti white, just pro black” they scream

And that groove can help when you need a lift

You’ll pay for (though who gets the money?)

Pain comes out love. Even anger’s a gift.

R & I have bonded on occasion[2]

Although ‘free speech’ is not enough to be

Against institutional racism

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[1] Don’t forget Shannon Barber’s great piece on Frederick Seidel “Ballad of Ferguson”

[2] R taught me some useful skills in all sincerity, for instance the kind of nuanced close reading necessary to understand the kind of dissembling used by the lawyer kings called Scotus when not called law-writing lobbyists