Episode #170 america, MINE - Sasha Banks

Connor and Jack discuss Sasha Banks' poem, america, MINE from her collection of the same name. They start by examining some of the poem's formal elements like its lack of traditional punctuation, and quickly jump to big themes like how the idea of vengeance is transformed in the poem and the contested symbol of the American flag is used.

Read the full poem below, or here: http://thecollagist.com/the-collagist/2016/8/27/america-mine.html

america, MINE

By: Sasha Banks

the spit upon this/country's flag is mine and/I do/not weep at it/consider the

twisted shape of grief about/the mouth upon learning the beast/under the bed

has always been your country/careful, citizen/this nation will name

you/daughter/while its tongue/sucks the muscle from every dark body/you

have loved to the edge of this/vanished second/I let the rage be/like

water/this time/drinking and drinking until/my darkness marries/my eyes to

blindness/and I am/led by the ghosts still/awake/in the soil/still/thirsty

from/below/the fear/is under my heal/now/there are multitudes/in my third

rib and/we are not/asking anymore/do you see us now/this is the last

kindness/we will have your sweat/and dress you in your own/curses/oh

country/what I mean to say/is/all the living after/this/will be the vengeance.

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