{"id":2264,"date":"2017-04-03T00:00:12","date_gmt":"2017-04-03T04:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=2264"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:47:09","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:47:09","slug":"jamaal-may-there-are-birds-here-prep-reading-for-ta-nehisi-coates-tomorrow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2017\/04\/03\/jamaal-may-there-are-birds-here-prep-reading-for-ta-nehisi-coates-tomorrow\/","title":{"rendered":"Jamaal May &#8220;there are birds here&#8221; prep reading for Ta-Nehisi Coates tomorrow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Monday April 3, 2017 \u2013 \u201cthere are birds here\u201d Jamaal May<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Ta-Nehisi Coates on campus tomorrow: \u00a05:00 pm for a group of invited students in intimate conversation, \u00a06:30 in our field house for a wider public gathering. \u00a0Gathering with what expectations? \u00a0To listen to a man whose voice, written or spoken, awakens hope that paying attention in hard times matters. \u00a0To listen to a man whose voice requires attention in the present tense, requires the courage to pay attention. \u00a0I am thrilled that I can be there listening.<\/p>\n<p>To prepare, I turned to Detroit poet, Jamaal May, \u00a0a Detroit voice that awakens hope that paying attention in hard times matters, whose voice requires attention in the present tense, requires the courage to pay attention. \u00a0Every poem does best when read aloud, with pauses. \u00a0 Today\u2019s, perhaps, especially so by the 3rd or 4th reading.<\/p>\n<p>Have a blest day.<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-style: inherit\">There Are Birds Here<\/span><\/p>\n<p>By\u00a0<a style=\"font-style: inherit\" href=\"http:\/\/www.poetryoutloud.org\/poems-and-performance\/poets\/detail\/jamaal-may\">Jamaal May<\/a><\/p>\n<p><em>For Detroit<br \/>\n<\/em>There are birds here,<br \/>\nso many birds here<br \/>\nis what I was trying to say<br \/>\nwhen they said those birds were metaphors<br \/>\nfor what is trapped<br \/>\nbetween buildings<br \/>\nand buildings. No.<br \/>\nThe birds are here<br \/>\nto root around for bread<br \/>\nthe girl\u2019s hands tear<br \/>\nand toss like confetti. No,<br \/>\nI don\u2019t mean the bread is torn like cotton,<br \/>\nI said confetti, and no<br \/>\nnot the confetti<br \/>\na tank can make of a building.<br \/>\nI mean the confetti<br \/>\na boy can\u2019t stop smiling about<br \/>\nand no his smile isn\u2019t much<br \/>\nlike a skeleton at all. And no<br \/>\nhis neighborhood is not like a war zone.<br \/>\nI am trying to say<br \/>\nhis neighborhood<br \/>\nis as tattered and feathered<br \/>\nas anything else,<br \/>\nas shadow pierced by sun<br \/>\nand light parted<br \/>\nby shadow-dance as anything else,<br \/>\nbut they won\u2019t stop saying<br \/>\nhow lovely the ruins,<br \/>\nhow ruined the lovely<br \/>\nchildren must be in that birdless city.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2016\/09\/JamaalMay.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1968\" src=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/170\/2016\/09\/JamaalMay.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"133\" height=\"133\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Jamaal May, \u201cThere Are Birds Here\u201d from\u00a0<em>The Big Book of Exit Strategies<\/em>. Copyright \u00a9 2016 by Jamaal May. Reprinted by permission of Alice James Books.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monday April 3, 2017 \u2013 \u201cthere are birds here\u201d Jamaal May Ta-Nehisi Coates on campus tomorrow: \u00a05:00 pm for a group of invited students in intimate conversation, \u00a06:30 in our field house for a wider public gathering. \u00a0Gathering with what &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2017\/04\/03\/jamaal-may-there-are-birds-here-prep-reading-for-ta-nehisi-coates-tomorrow\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":139,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11641],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2264"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/139"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2264"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2265,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2264\/revisions\/2265"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}