The Tradition Quotes

“I’m sure Somebody died while We made love. Some- Body killed somebody Black. I thought then Of holding you As a political act.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“Nobody in this nation feels safe, and I'm still a reason why.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“There is the happiness you have
And the happiness you deserve.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“When I kill me, I will
Do it the same way most Americans do,
I promise you: cigarette smoke
Or a piece of meat on which I choke
Or so broke I freeze
In one of these winters we keep
Calling worst. I promise if you hear
Of me dead anywhere near
A cop, then that cop killed me.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“My mother grew morning glories that spilled onto the walkway toward her porch
Because she was a woman with land who showed as much by giving it color.
She told me I could have whatever I worked for. That means she was an American.
But she’d say it was because she believed
In God. I am ashamed of America
And confounded by God.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“The people of my country believe We can’t be hurt if we can be bought.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“I begin with love, hoping to end there.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“I will not shoot myself
In the head, and I will not shoot myself
In the back, and I will not hang myself
With a trashbag, and if I do,
I promise you, I will not do it
In a police car while handcuffed
Or in the jail cell of a town
I only know the name of
Because I have to drive through it
To get home.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“No sound beating ends where it began. None of the beaten end up how we began.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“We few left who listen to the radio leave
Ourselves available to surprise.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“Let me be
Another invisible,
Used and forgotten and left
To whatever narrow miseries I make for myself
Without anybody asking
What's wrong. Concern for my soul offends me....”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“All my anxiety is separation anxiety.
I want to believe you are here with me,
But the bed is bigger and the trash
Overflows. Someone righteous should
Take out my garbage. I am so many odd
And enviable things. Righteous is not
One of them. I’d rather a man to avoid
Than a man to imagine in a realm
Unseen, though even the doctor who
Shut your eyes swears you’re somewhere
As close as breath. Mine, not yours.
You don’t have breath. You got
Heaven. That’s supposed to be my
Haven. I want you to tell me it sparkles
There. I want you to tell me anything
Again and again while I turn you over
To quiet you or to wake and remind you
I can’t be expected to clean up after a man.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“What’s yours at home is a wolf in my city. You can’t accuse me of sleeping with a man.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“So the Bible says, in the beginning, Blackness. I am alive. You? Alive. You born with the nerve To arrive yawning.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“I promise if you hear Of me dead anywhere near A cop, then that cop killed me.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“All my anxiety is separation anxiety.
I want to believe you are here with me,
But the bed is bigger and the trash
Overflows.
Someone righteous should
Take out my garbage.
I am so many odd”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“I want you
To heed that I'm still here
Just beneath your skin and in
Each organ
The way anger dwells in a man
Who studies the history of his nation.
If I can't leave you
Dead, I'll have
You vexed.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“We do not recognize the body
Of Emmett Till. We do not know
The boy’s name nor the sound
Of his mother wailing. We have
Never heard a mother wailing.
We do not know the history
Of this nation in ourselves. We
Do not know the history of our-
Selves on this planet because
We do not have to know what
We believe we own.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“The opposite of rape is understanding.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“A bore at home, he transformed in the city.

What's yours at home, is a wolf in my city.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“...Stargazer./ 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.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“Are already at work. Blue. I’ll never know who started the lie that we   are lazy, But I’d love to wake that bastard up At foreday in the morning, toss him in a truck, and drive him under   God Past every bus stop in America to see all those black folk Waiting to go work for whatever they want. A house? A boy To keep the lawn cut? Some color in the yard? My God, we leave   things green.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“When I am touched, brushed, and measured, I think of myself
As a painting. The artist works no matter the lack of sleep. I am
made
Beautiful. I never eat. I once bothered with a man who called me”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“By the time the blooms
Unfurl themselves for a few hours of light, the women who tend them
Are already at work. Blue. I’ll never know who started the lie that we are lazy,
But I’d love to wake that bastard up
At foreday in the morning, toss him in a truck, and drive him under God
Past every bus stop in America to see all those black folk
Waiting to go work for whatever they want.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“No matter how sore the injury
Has left you, you sit understading
Yourself as a human being finally
Free now that nobody’s got to love you.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition

“Monotheism Some people need religion. Me? I’ve got my long black hair.”
― Jericho Brown, The Tradition