The Ramshackle Garden of Affection
Two poets exchange letters about language, love, and basketball.
Some Thoughts On Mercy
The writer, who is black, on how his experience with racism and racial profiling has formed his identity in the U.S.:
“Among the more concrete ramifications of this corruption of the imagination is that when the police suspect a black man or boy of having a gun, he becomes murderable: Murderable despite having earned advanced degrees or bought a cute house or written a couple of books of poetry. Murderable whether he’s an unarmed adult or a child riding a bike in the opposite direction. Murderable in the doorways of our houses. Murderable as we come home from the store. Murderable as we lie facedown on the ground in a subway station. Murderable the day before our weddings. Murderable, probably, in our gardens.”
