{"id":3055,"date":"2019-08-26T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2019-08-26T04:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/mission-and-identity\/?p=3055"},"modified":"2019-09-18T16:42:59","modified_gmt":"2019-09-18T20:42:59","slug":"august-26-jamaal-may-there-are-birds-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2019\/08\/26\/august-26-jamaal-may-there-are-birds-here\/","title":{"rendered":"August 26 &#8211; Jamaal May &#8220;There are birds here&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Monday, August 26, 2019<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am impressed by the level of commitment to the mission and to the city of Detroit that exists at the University.\u201d \u00a0(Dr. Punsalan-Manlimos)<\/p>\n<p>Catherine\u00a0Punsalan-Manlimos and her family met and mingled with c. 125 women, men and children in the Jesuit courtyard last evening as we gathered to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Si Hendry\u2019s Jesuit life. \u00a0 Such an apt beginning to her time here as \u201cAssistant to the President for\u00a0Mission Integration\u201d: \u00a0several generations of the life-blood of faculty and staff and neighbors unmistakably living out what Dr. Punsalan-Manlimos identified in her job interview as a\u00a0defining quality of Detroit Mercy, \u201cthe level of commitment to the mission and to the city of Detroit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Catherine and I now hold one thing uniquely in common;\u00a0to date we are the only two to have held this position at Detroit Mercy. \u00a0No surprise then, that when searching for a strong Detroit poem to honor her coming, I should settle on Jamaal May, who grew up in our neighborhood and who lives and breathes the life of our city,\u00a0perhaps nowhere more powerfully than in his \u201cThere are birds here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Best to read the poem out loud, with pauses, several times.<\/p>\n<p>Catherine, welcome to the university.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>john sj<\/p>\n<p><strong>For Detroit<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>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\u00a0The Big Book of Exit Strategies.<br \/>\nCopyright \u00a9 2016 by Jamaal May. Reprinted by permission of Alice James Books.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/26196185-the-big-book-of-exit-strategies\">http:\/\/www.goodreads.com\/book\/show\/26196185-the-big-book-of-exit-strategies<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Monday, August 26, 2019 \u201cI am impressed by the level of commitment to the mission and to the city of Detroit that exists at the University.\u201d \u00a0(Dr. Punsalan-Manlimos) Catherine\u00a0Punsalan-Manlimos and her family met and mingled with c. 125 women, men &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/2019\/08\/26\/august-26-jamaal-may-there-are-birds-here\/\">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\/3055"}],"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=3055"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3056,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3055\/revisions\/3056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/poetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}