Bring That Beat Back: Lucille Clifton @ The New School

A little under four years ago, I wrote this post about a public conversation Cave Canem had organized between Lucille Clifton and Sonia Sanchez. There, Clifton read "september song: a poem in 7 days". My notes where incomplete -- I could only remember a few lines -- but I'd wanted to record them. I recently found the complete poem on the Lyric Poetry Review website. See it here. Below is an excerpt from the part that struck me so hard:

. . . some of us know
we have never felt safe

all of us americans
weeping

as some of us have wept
before

is it treason to remember

what have we done
to deserve such villainy

nothing we reassure ourselves
nothing . . .