New
Poem from Reg E. Gaines (July 2002) "We Need"
Reg
e. Gaines, a playwright and poet who wrote the book for the Broadway
musical Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk. He
has released three CD's and was a featured poet in MTV's spoken
word series in the mid-nineties.
The
interview was filmed at the Tompkins Square Park Public Library
in New York City and was conducted by Steven Sapp.
"I got
into this because I felt voiceless. I probably never would have
started writing poetry if I hadn't gone to the Nuyorican Poets Cafe.
The
first night I was there I saw Willie Perdomo reading 'Nigger-Reecan
Blues'. And he goes off in the language I had heard on the streets.
I was like, damn, I didn't know that was poetry. I thought I gotta
go up there and do that, I wasn't thinking anything about writing
poetry, I was just thinking I wanna go up there on that stage
and do that.
So
Willie informed me just by reading his poem, that up to that point
in my life, and I had been alive at least three decades at that
point, that I had been voiceless my entire life. The
only thing that I knew was that I had been told to shut and I
had been telling people to shut up. That was the extent of my
communication.
And
when I saw Willie do that, and heard him – his presence,
and it sounded like we were up on 149th and 3rd in front of a
bodega having a conversation – it made me feel good, cause
I knew that language, I understood that language, and I knew I
wasn't excluded. After that, I knew I had to get up on that stage
and do that."
to
be continued...
