Fred Bailey grew up blind on a farm in Gallatin, Tennessee — except he didn’t actually know he was blind at first.

Through a run in with a teacher, a visit to a doctor, and a confrontation with his father, he learned how to find strength in his limitations. And now he strives to pass on a similar tenacity to children through his after-school program, Children Are People.

In this episode, Fred shares his story to Nashville poet and rapper Saran Thompson. And then within minutes, Saran takes what he’s heard and transforms it into an original poem.

Credits: Editing/co-production by: Tony Gonzalez, Hosting/co-production by: Joshua Moore.

Additional Editing assistance: Emily Siner, Blake Farmer, Anita Bugg, and Susannah Felts.

Production assistance, recording, and mastering by Luke Wiget.

A special thanks to The McJimpsey Center and the Jefferson Street Art Crawl for hosting the event where this audio were recorded on March 25, 2017.

The music is by Saran Thompson.

Versify is a production of Nashville Public Radio and PRX. Stories and poems are gathered with the help of The Porch, Nashville’s nonprofit literary center.