Abstract
This (found) poem in three acts creates a conversation between Stuart Hall and Danez Smith, situated in the larger context of the long struggle for Black livingness. First comes the warning, descriptions of the violent now; HERE. Act II is a re-reading or re-writing of the secret codes of slavery and anti-Black violence, a play and exchange between realities and imaginaries, the tensions in Black social life; WHERE. The closing act insists that we dream of something different, a nod to a life Stuart Hall tried to write into existence, a life that his work is still writing; SOMEWHERE. By putting Stuart Hall in posthumous conversation with Danez Smith, I perform the kind of imaginary geographic maneuvering that characterizes Hall’s study, expanding the transatlantic and cross-generational capacity of cultural studies. Such a study, in a world where the African diaspora has been made commodity, is critical to the making of a world where Black(s) live(s) (matter).
Act I: HERE
We are, comrades, in deep trouble.
crises left unattended—like wounds not dressed—fester and infect the body politic
that world of laws rendered us into dark matter.
the whole tempo of political struggle suddenly and sharply moves into a higher register
the grinding noise of a social and political crisis
if you press your ear to the dirt you can hear it hum
violence between black people and the police has become a way of life in the cities.
what was I before? a boy? a son? a warning? a myth? now, everywhere I am is the center of everything.
policed like a colony population
most of us settle on alive south of somewhere worse
the lesson of the black experience
eruptions of unconscious violence
some boys waded here through their own blood the old world keeps choking them
time and time again
the body politic
the backbone of England
like wounds not dressed—fester and infect
somewhere, a sun
Act II: WHERE
Let us, however, start with “the streets”
a flock of boys who never got to grow up, blooming into forever,
what is happening on the streets
dancing between the storm we’re all here to dance
Anyone with their ears and eyes half open must know by now
none of these great gifts of the Divine to The Nation could save
black people
It can’t happen here.
I am sure there are other heres. a somewhere for every kind of somebody
In these areas, the black population have long ago been abandoned
no need for geography walk around your block jump in the air & stay there
I do not mean to invoke some ideal period
our social, political and community life
has been directly assaulted, broken up and destroyed
this is how we are born laws rendered us into dark matter
is it a surprise that such people feel
they are an alien wedge
how could I ever explain to you there is no language for officer or law, no color to call white.
This is not the voice of street subversives or doped-up rastas
everything is a sanctuary & nothing is a gun
would a black person spend more than five minutes in police company?
made to bear the brunt of
scandalous apologetics
trust the trip will kill you. This is how we are born
Act III: SOMEWHERE
do you know what it’s like to live someplace that loves you back?
sweetness and light
grow wings & fly above your city point to whatever you please & call it church, home, or sweet love
fed and sustained
happy and content
Can it possibly have happened?
by a death we didn’t deserve we are alive someplace better someone prayed we’d rest in peace & here we are
harmonious
in peace whole all summer
Footnotes
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Donna Landry for the encouragement and inspiration to (re)read Stuart Hall.
Author’s Note
Text by Hall comes from his article “Summer in the city” (1981) and is written in italics. Text by Smith comes from their poem “summer, somewhere” (2016) and is written in Roman.
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
