I write because there is story in me, in my parents, aunts, uncles, and in my people.
I write because there is story Navajo people have carried with them and were so shockingly shattered by that one C-word I refuse to say.
I write because I am Navajo.
I write because I have a penis. I have a smooth and curve of creative expression and it feels like sexual frustration without writing. It feels like wanting a cigarette without writing. It feels like one bad hangover without writing. It feels like digging your feet into snow-covered dirt out on the reservation without writing. I write not because I like pen to paper, but because I like word to mouth and mouth to penis and mouth to ice cream and word to ears and word to computed type on a MacBook Pro.
I write because my mom can’t tell me how she feels. I write because my grandfather can’t tell us how he fell in love. I write because Navajos are too afraid to speak. I write for them.
I write because there are too many white poets with open-ended voices listening to themselves at night. I write because there are too many white men with gray hair telling stories about how to fall in love with a women you meet at the train station. I write because brown people are too afraid to truly speak what they live. I write for them.
I write because I need to make my people human. I write to give them guts and depressions. I write to give them smiles and aggression. I write to give them sex on the regular.
I write because….
I write because I’m 21, and what better way is there to get laid on a Saturday night and Tuesday morning?
BIO: Matthew says: “I’m a 4th year student at the University of New Mexico. I’ve featured at East of Edith’s open-mic night and is going to start an internship with the Local Poets Guild in the Fall of 2012. I’ve been published in Conceptions Southwest and a short story of mine was named an Honorable Mention in UNM’s Lena Todd Awards. I am a poet first, storyteller second, and a 6’3″ giant third. And yes, I am Navajo.”
Thank you– I love this! “I write because there are too many white men with gray hair telling stories about how to fall in love with a women you meet at the train station. ” I write because I DON’T have a penis 😉
Thank you. Let’s celebrate our words and genitals.
Really, Matthew–I love your chutzpah (sp?) y cajones and back talk to white men–one of my passions too. I’m looking forward to anything more you write cuz I don’t think you like to disappoint, follow rules, or be confined. Carry on!
😀
“I write because there are too many white poets with open-ended voices listening to themselves at night”
I’d love a clarification on some of this. What does it mean to say a poet has an “open-ended” voice? Also, would it be okay for me to listen to myself at night, if I DIDN’T have an “open-ended” voice?
Just curious here.
I just find it peculiar that all poets sound the same to me when they read their poetry. It’s so concrete. It’s so generic. It’s so flushed of them. I’d rather listen to Jimmy Santiago Baca mess up on his poem, then listen to more poets from Santa Fe with voices that always. end. like. this….
Personally, of course. People read poetry a million different ways and it changes constantly.
I know what you mean, it’s a rhythm or a tune that has become cliche.
I think the other thing that I have to confess that I am curious about is how you connect this to a poet’s “whiteness”. The entire sentence in your paragraph there is “I write because there are too many white poets with open-ended voices listening to themselves at night.” I don’t know that when I perform I use this cadence or lilt that you are referring to, but I do know I am considered white. So, I am curious about that. Especially as you say there are too many. Am I one of those in that number? Just curious here.
I’ll just address the lilt as I’ve heard you perform… and I can assure you, Rich, that you do not use that in your performance.
Jennifer,
Thank you for this – I would hope to think that if I had a lilt, it would be on purpose and just to serve the needs of a given poem.
Reblogged this on Brian Ransom Pad.