Poem 13 of 30 - April 2012

From the movie: How many Black… a feature film based on the real life

Teaching experiences of Roger Bonair-Agard, directed by Spike Lee

Scene from jailhouse 1

Camera panning the entire room

40 year old heavily tattooed black man walks into the rec room. He comes to teach them creative writing.  They have not been told this…

Switch to 2 camera angles, both in profile

Young brother 1: Oh, who dis nigga?! Aye Joe! Who the fuck is you?

Teacher: Ask me again in a manner I can actually respond to.

Switch to 2 angles – facing class and facing teacher, guards should be almost out of picture; blurred somewhat

YB 2: Aye man, what dat is on your chest? Gestures with chin in general direction of the man

Teacher: a crown

everyone in the room turns to look at the 1 latino kid – the unspoken dialogue is about whether or not it’s a Latin King claim being made by the crown

Teacher: why y’all all lookin at him?

silence

YB 2: Yo lemme see the whole thing

Security Guard: it would probably be inappropriate for him to take off his shirt here

2 beats of silence

YB 2: Aye lemme see that crown nigga

Teacher: Brother, for reals I’m not taking off my shirt

Teacher is now sitting round a table with residents of the jail – camera angles should switch from one perspective to the next rapidly.  We want to feel the tempo of the conversation here as different from the other conversations

YB 3: Aye Joe, you ever been locked up?

Teacher: No.

YB 3: you ain’t never done NO time?!

Teacher: never

YB 3: more incredulous; even suspicious NEVER?!

Teacher: No

YB 3: How the fuck you so swole den?!

Teacher laughs loudly; students join in

YB 4: yo, you be fuckin with dat UFC fighting

Teacher:  you mean like actually fighting?

YB 4: yeah, like MMA shit.

Teacher: nah dawg.  Why you ask?

YB 4: you look like you could fuck a nigga up!

Teacher: Once, maybe.  But I’m too old for people to be hitting me in the face

YB 5: No Homo, but I could picture you in them little ass shorts fuckin a nigga up!

Teacher: slowly so… did you just say No Homo AND you can picture me in little ass shorts?

YB 5: yeah. But for real, you know what I mean?

Teacher: I’m afraid I do

Fade out and up on next scene…

To schedule a reading or an appearance please contact Ofer Ziv at Blue Flower Arts at 845-677-8559 or email ofer@blueflowerarts.com. www.facebook.com/rogerbonairagard www.twitter.com/rogerbonair www.cypherbooks.com