Transcript: Poems on Air, Episode 86 - Peter J. Harris

The following transcript is provided for accessibility only. Layout, formatting, and typography of poems may differ from the original text. We recommend referring to the original, published works when possible to experience the poems as intended by their authors.

[Music intro]

LYNNE THOMPSON: Hello! My name is Lynne Thompson, Poet Laureate for the City of Los Angeles, and I’m so happy to welcome listeners to this installment of Poems on Air, a podcast supported by the Los Angeles Public Library. Every week, I’ll present the work of poets I admire, poets who you should know, and poets who have made a substantial and inimitable contribution to the art and craft of poetry.

LYNNE THOMPSON: Last week, Poems on Air celebrated South Pasadena’s Poet Laureate Ron Koertge. This week, the podcast is pleased to celebrate Altadena’s Co-Poet Laureate, Peter J. Harris. Harris, who describes himself as a cultural worker, is the founder of the Black Man of Happiness project and the winner of the PEN Oakland Josephine Miles Award and a City of Los Angeles Artist Fellowship, to name a few of his awards. Harris has been a member of the Anansi Writers Workshop at the World Stage in L.A.’s Leimert Park since 1992. His most recent collection of poems is SongAgain.

LYNNE THOMPSON: Today’s poem is "Speak A Million Years" by Peter J. Harris.

"Speak A Million Years"



my life speak    speak a million years
speak through river sand   speak off wall of cave   speak from canyon valley

	(horn wail	    guitar weep	ballad out the mouth)

speak a million times
while hot light wash the crying sky
speak so loud        my life speak so loud
my blip embossed out of one thought

	(drum laugh	   piano sigh    	folksong out the mouth)

my dust speak   speak a million years
speak from chipped face
speak from dry mind
speak from empty pelvis
	dig so deep
unearth myself a million times
cradle my chattering bones

	(voice squall	   memory storm	upheaval out the mouth)

	swaying to the sound of reprise
	uncloaked like JB rising from one knee

	who’s down for transcending legacies?

the bone of my contradictions speak
the quake of my skeleton speak
the deed of my standing speak
	dig so deep

my life speak		speak a million years
my dust speak	speak a million years

LYNNE THOMPSON: The Los Angeles Poet Laureate was created as a joint program between the City’s Department of Cultural Affairs and the Los Angeles Public Library and this podcast is available wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for listening!

[Music outro]

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    • DISCLAIMER: This is NOT a certified or verbatim transcript, but rather represents only the context of the class or meeting, subject to the inherent limitations of real-time captioning. The primary focus of real-time captioning is general communication access and as such this document is not suitable, acceptable, nor is it intended for use in any type of legal proceeding. Transcript provided by the author.

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