Jericho Brown

Some poets explore the meaning of their existence within the context of how society perceives them.

Here’s a poem by American poet and writer Jericho Brown (born April 14, 1976), whose poems have been published in The Nation, New England Review, The New Republic, Oxford American, and The New Yorker, among others.

His 2019 collection of poems, The Tradition, garnered widespread critical acclaim and was awarded the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Click on the following link to see and hear Jericho Brown read “The Tradition”

https://youtu.be/F-M0_eGmHWY

The Tradition

Aster. Nasturtium. Delphinium. We thought
Fingers in dirt meant it was our dirt, learning
Names in heat, in elements classical
Philosophers said could change us. Star Gazer.
Foxglove. Summer seemed to bloom against the will
Of the sun, which news reports claimed flamed hotter
On this planet than when our dead fathers
Wiped sweat from their necks. Cosmos. Baby’s Breath.
Men like me and my brothers filmed what we
Planted for proof we existed before
Too late, sped the video to see blossoms
Brought in seconds, colors you expect in poems
Where the world ends, everything cut down.
John Crawford. Eric Garner. Mike Brown.

--Jericho Brown