Poetry + Spoken Word

the damage of denial

I wrote and recorded this piece in 2021, inspired by two things…

Firstly, Afaa M. Weaver inspired the form of this poem. “the damage of denial” is a Bop poem. It’s a form created by Weaver during the ’97 Cave Canem summer retreat for Black poets. While looking for ways to structure his workshop, Weaver developed the Bop as a bridge between Hip-Hop and formal poetry. It’s a three-stanza poem with a repeated refrain (or hook) at the end of each stanza. You can watch Weaver explain the Bop in more detail to a group of students here. Check out this article to read more about the Bop’s structure, other examples, and how to write in this form.

Secondly, my thoughts about Black men and our relationship to anger inspired the poem’s content. I thought about how we often deny ourselves the space to express the vulnerable emotions behind our anger. Or how some of us grew up thinking that our anger makes us inherently fucked up. Neither of which should be the case. Anger is a revolutionary tool when wielded properly.

So Black man, what is your anger trying to tell you?