Jericho Brown brings it.

Poem of the Week:    Jericho Brown                                  'N'em     They said to say goodnight And not goodbye, unplugged The TV when it rained. They hid Money in mattresses So to sleep on decisions. Some of their children Were not their children. Some Of their parents had no birthdates. They could sweat a cold out Of you. They'd wake without An alarm telling them to. Even the short ones reached Certain shelves. Even the skinny Cooked animals too quick To get caught. And I don't care How ugly one of them arrived, That one got married To somebody fine. They fed Families with change and wiped Their kitchens clean. Then another century came. People like me forgot their names. -Jericho Brown Used by permission. Jericho Brown was born in Shreveport, Louisiana and once worked as the speechwriter for the Mayor of New Orleans. The recipient of the Whiting Writers Award and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, Brown is an Assistant Professor at Emory University. His poems have appeared in journals and anthologies including The American Poetry Review, jubilat, Oxford American, Ploughshares, Tin House,The Best American Poetry, and 100 Best African American Poems. His first book, PLEASE, won the American Book Award. Please feel free to forward Split This Rock Poem of the Weekwidely. We just ask you to include all of the information in this email, including this request. Thanks! If you are interested in reading past poems of the week, feel free to visit the blog archive.

Poem of the Week Open Call   Split This Rock began the Poem of the Week program in October 2009 as a way of publicizing the poets who were to be featured in the 2010 festival. We have since continued the series by featuring the work of participants of our festivals. We are pleased to open the call up to any poet writing in the socially engaged vein -- festival participant or not.    Visit our blog for specifics and submission guidelines.  We look forward to reading your work!

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