Reginald Dwayne Betts

When it’s difficult for me to focus, I tend to read poetry. This short collection surprisingly filled an empathetic void in me I didn’t know I had. Its focus on the emotional experience and effects of incarceration is both eerily timely and educational without being didactic. I mean, I know the stats. I’ve seen Ava Duvernay’s excellent documentary 13th. But I’ve never thought deeply on the heart of someone who has been incarcerated. I know incarceration marks a person indelibly. I had some dim idea of how. But this book made me think of what those marks look like in daily living, and what it takes to heal, or to try to.

(For a more detailed review, check out my website.)… (més)

“This is the brick & mortar of the America
that murdered Tamir & may stalk the laughter

in my backseat. I am a father driving
his Black sons to school & the death
of a Black boy rides shotgun & this
could be a funeral procession. The Death
a silent thing in the air, unmentioned-
because mentioning death invites taboo...”

“Lost in what's gone. Reinventing myself with lies:
I walk these streets, ruined by what I hide.
Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine.

Did a stretch in prison to be released to a cell.
Returned to freedom penned by Orwell.
My noon temptation is now the Metro's third rail.

In my wallet, I carry around a daguerrotype,
A mugshot, no smiles, my name a tithe.
What must I pay for being this stereotype?”

^These 2 excerpts, are from [Felon: Poems]. It is a beautiful but also hard-hitting collection, directing an insightful spotlight on the Black experience in America today. It may end up being the best collection I have read this year. Warbling loud and clear...… (més)