Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Split This Rock Poem of the Week - Derrick Weston Brown

Split This Rock

Poem of the Week -

Derrick Weston Brown

Derrick Weston Brown


Duke Ellington's You St. Lament


I try to follow his eyes

see where his stare lands.


The Duke watches from an elevated

perch. Now.


Not like before

when his face used to be

ground level.


Maybe he just

watches over you, me, and the

faces still left

in the color

corridor.


Or maybe that's a

worried look

on his wrinkled brow


as if he's dreading

a gentrified tap

on his shoulder

reminding even the Duke

to fear a rise in rent.


- Derrick Weston Brown


from Wisdom Teeth, used by permission



Derrick Weston Brown holds an MFA in creative writing from American University. He is Poet in Residence at Busboys and Poets (14th & V). He has studied poetry under Dr. Tony Medina at Howard University and Cornelius Eady at American University and is a graduate of the Cave Canem Summer workshop for black poets and the VONA summer workshop. His work has appeared in such literary journals as Warpland, Mythium, Ginsoko, DrumVoices, The Columbia Poetry Review, and the online journals Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Howard University's Amistad, LocusPoint,and MiPOesias. His debut collection, Wisdom Teeth, was released by Busboys and Poets Books in 2011.


Brown attended both the 2008 and 2010 Split This Rock Poetry Festival: Poems of Provocation & Witness.


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Split This Rock
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