**********Your goal this week is to write a FREE VERSE poem that plays around with line lengths, indents, and sounds that captures an aspect of your neighborhood. It doesn’t necessarily need to be negative or critical, but it should embody the sights and sounds of your community in its meanings and presentation. There are NO other rules. Trust Baraka!
So, our guide this week is one of America’s greatest poets/writers/critics, Amiri Baraka. The poem below, “Dope,” holds no punches, digs into late 1970s hypocrisies, and when faced with the opioid epidemic we are experiencing today, feels as true as if it were written this morning. This is a vital example of verse that lives on the page without any boundaries. Baraka’s lines end when his intentions are realized; and his use of sound is both performative AND realistic. You can listen to him reciting the piece here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ89lZDBDR4; and you can listen to him sing “Dope” to a jazz accompaniment here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnK4CqdwdCQ
Yes, this is a strongly worded poem and some might take offense; however, its truth is evident and, I believe, demands our attention.
**********Your goal this week is to write a FREE VERSE poem that plays around with line lengths, indents, and sounds that captures an aspect of your neighborhood. It doesn’t necessarily need to be negative or critical, but it should embody the sights and sounds of your community in its meanings and presentation. There are NO other rules. Trust Baraka!
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