explode
I have a vivid memory of a professor in college reading the Langston Hughes poem Dream Deferred.
She starts off in a normal tone of voice:
What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
Her voice drops a notch.
Or fester like a sore...And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over-like a syrupy sweet?
She lowers her voice further and further until it's barely above a whisper
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it...
The last word slams into us, as she shouts it at the top of her lungs.
EXPLODE!
A rather effective way to wake up the class on a dreary November morning.
I also remember constantly getting that poem and the Violent Femmes song, Blister in the Sun hopelessly twisted up together in my mind. Whenever I heard the song, I'd want to shout out EXPLODE at some point. Which didn't hurt anyone really, just confirmed the general consensus that I was an odd duck.
Labels: dose of mikey, memory lane
* posted by me at 6:08 PM
