Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4RysJspGE4 Starts at: 01:45:21 (jump to 01:45:21)
David Ross (Native Son) — Spoken Word on Legacy and Love
[01:45:21] Yeah, yeah. [01:45:22] Give it up for Janice, y’all. [01:45:24] Yes. [01:45:25] Janice and Jericho. [01:45:26] Yes, yes, yes, yes. [01:45:27] Yes, yes, yes. [01:45:31] That was beautiful. [01:45:33] Very beautiful. [01:45:34] That was tough. [01:45:35] Yeah. [01:45:36] So we’re going to keep going. [01:45:37] Y’all still having fun? [01:45:38] Yes. [01:45:39] Hey, hey. [01:45:40] Give it up for yourselves for being here. [01:45:41] Yeah. [01:45:42] Came through in a storm. [01:45:43] Okay. [01:45:44] You got to let me do this. [01:45:45] Oh, go ahead. [01:45:46] Go ahead. [01:45:47] Go on. [01:45:48] Do your thing. [01:45:49] All right. [01:45:50] All right. [01:45:51] So another artist. [01:45:52] All right. [01:45:53] So this guy right here, I met him many years ago. [01:45:54] And he gave me some directions on my writing. [01:45:55] All right. [01:45:56] Thank you. [01:45:57] Thank you. [01:45:58] Thank you. [01:45:59] But one of his spoken words ended up in actually becoming a college course. [01:46:04] So you are lucky and graced to be in the presence of Mr. Native Son, David Ross. [01:46:14] Give it up for Native Son, y’all. [01:46:16] Hey. [01:46:17] Wow. [01:46:18] That’s news to me. [01:46:19] I didn’t know that. [01:46:20] Thank you. [01:46:21] Thank you very much. [01:46:22] Thank you. [01:46:23] Hey, hey. [01:46:24] Hey. [01:46:25] I didn’t know that. [01:46:32] I thought museums were for the dead. [01:46:36] I thought I was too young to be a relic, [01:46:39] and yet, markings on my thoughts [01:46:41] are engraved upon the infrastructure [01:46:42] of Baltimorean landscapes. [01:46:45] My voice archived on invisible digital audio material. [01:46:48] My mother stared at me with love so hard [01:46:51] that the impression on my face [01:46:53] that looked like hers [01:46:54] that caused people to say, [01:46:56] hey, you Jackie’s boy, ain’t you? [01:46:59] And now I look in the mirror [01:47:00] and I see her face every day [01:47:02] and I ask myself, [01:47:03] what will they remember when I’m gone? [01:47:06] My birth date or my death date? [01:47:09] Milestones of my mistakes. [01:47:10] The way I live will determine [01:47:12] how you celebrate me like Martin King and Chris Wallace, [01:47:15] both optimists, orators, orchestrators, [01:47:17] wielding dialects that drew hate [01:47:19] to say the one spoke life, the other death. [01:47:22] Now breathe. [01:47:24] Breath is the hidden hand of the two-edged sword. [01:47:26] Believe that, indeed. [01:47:28] These vocal cords are sharp, see? [01:47:30] Anything fake will fall flat, be. [01:47:32] In the beginning was the word, [01:47:33] and in the end, a book with record [01:47:34] of every word you ever spoke. [01:47:36] Now that’s that. [01:47:36] Gee, now think how deep that is. [01:47:39] How a soul decision can spark a soul’s division. [01:47:42] Imagine that. [01:47:43] Butterfly effect. [01:47:45] Spoken words soft and spooling through the cracks in the air. [01:47:47] Now check how butterflies connect. [01:47:49] A butterfly once fluttered by an ass. [01:47:50] What was you born for? [01:47:52] To be tattered and torn more? [01:47:54] Was it a poem that gave you a name? [01:47:56] Or is it you who people are drawn to [01:47:57] rather than some words you arrange? [01:47:59] Strange how a lifetime of legacy of good deeds can change, [01:48:03] be tarnished by one incident. [01:48:05] Lack of discipline, [01:48:06] given into your lower conscience, [01:48:07] the innocence in human nature, [01:48:09] the act upon it is the carnage behind us, [01:48:11] power and responsibility. [01:48:13] That’s what makes us amazing, man. [01:48:16] But oh, what a tangled web we weave [01:48:17] when you become prisoner to what you achieve. [01:48:20] What was you born for? [01:48:22] When no one came to the baby shower? [01:48:25] Instead they all sent your mother dead flowers, [01:48:27] tied balloons at your funeral, [01:48:29] and danced all day to those songs you hated in your cubicle. [01:48:33] Why live a life so ugly when you were made so beautiful? [01:48:35] What was you born for? [01:48:38] I wonder, what would they celebrate for me? [01:48:41] My birthday or the day of my death? [01:48:44] The depth of my heart or the weight of my breath? [01:48:47] Will my children rejoice in my wake or be overwhelmed with grief at my rest when I die? [01:48:52] If you should decide to celebrate me, [01:48:54] I hope you remember my birthday for the good man I tried to be. [01:48:58] Good afternoon, good evening. [01:49:00] How are y’all doing? [01:49:06] My name is David Ross. [01:49:07] I also go by the name of Son. [01:49:10] Me and David had the pleasure and opportunity to go to school together in college [01:49:14] and get our MSWs together and become therapists. [01:49:18] We had some good times then. [01:49:20] I’ll do more. [01:49:22] Peace for you and get out your way. [01:49:24] Love to all of the poets and comedians who raced the stage tonight, who I saw. [01:49:28] So give them a round of applause. [01:49:34] This last piece I’ll do. [01:49:36] My mother shows up in my writing a little bit. [01:49:39] Not all my poems about her, but this piece was written some time ago [01:49:43] to celebrate her and my stepfather’s [01:49:47] 20th anniversary. [01:49:49] And it became kind of like this piece to like, [01:49:51] encourage other people when it comes to the idea of love. [01:49:59] I’ve never seen a man love a woman the way that my father loved my mother. [01:50:04] I want to learn to love like that. [01:50:07] He swept a single mom and her two babies off the ground out of the shadows of hopelessness. [01:50:13] And as a little boy, all I could think was God. [01:50:16] His arms are strong. [01:50:18] He struggled, but he made it, knowing that his commitment was life. [01:50:21] Little boys need that from their dads. [01:50:24] I’m glad he understood that it ain’t easy to get a young boy that ain’t yours to love you back. [01:50:29] But he stayed right there and he never relapsed. [01:50:32] And man, I want to thank you for that. [01:50:34] I want to learn how to love like, [01:50:36] like how I never seen a woman love her pumpkins for what they are. [01:50:40] No spun gold, she embraced her straw and loved it. [01:50:43] Cause worth more to her than glass slippers and a horse-drawn carriage. [01:50:46] Their fairy tale came true with a broke-down four-door Ford automatic. [01:50:49] And she loved it. [01:50:51] Baby, any much I can afford, but trust me, there’s gold in our marriage. [01:50:55] I want to learn to love like that. [01:50:57] When she was in school, he held us down. [01:51:00] When he was down, she held him up in high esteem. [01:51:03] May not meet society’s standards, but he is her king. [01:51:06] Still his queen, keeping food and cash in her castle. [01:51:09] Baby, I got you till we get back. [01:51:11] No feed, no nagging, no hassle. [01:51:13] Cause together, we gonna fight this battle. [01:51:15] I want to learn to love like that. [01:51:17] Nah, never did she ever have a bunch of chickens. [01:51:21] Bucking in her front yard, all in her business. [01:51:23] Busy beaks curled down, squawking about what men is and what men ain’t. [01:51:26] She kept it quaint. [01:51:27] This is the real deal, for real. [01:51:29] No pretty picture here I’m trying to paint. [01:51:31] Believe me, it ain’t. [01:51:32] Cause life ain’t perfect. [01:51:33] We’ve seen some hard times. [01:51:34] And those hard times hurt it. [01:51:36] But we weathered them together. [01:51:37] When there was no food in the fridge. [01:51:38] Here they were nice. [01:51:39] They went hungry, but they fed their kids. [01:51:41] Who was happy to live. [01:51:42] Unknowing, unbeknownst. [01:51:44] Unpaid bills, rent due, and lights off still. [01:51:47] In that house, love poured every ounce. [01:51:49] I want to learn to love like that. [01:51:50] To love without these regrets. [01:51:52] To love without holding back. [01:51:54] To love regardless, despite the setback. [01:51:56] Hey, you want to know what love is? [01:51:59] Don’t watch reality TV. [01:52:01] Read reality weaved in the brilliant fabric of this couple’s life work. [01:52:05] Durable and double threaded wound with 20 years worth of patchwork. [01:52:08] Neighbor still sewing. [01:52:09] Still going. [01:52:10] Still growing together. [01:52:11] I tell ya, I want to learn to love like that. [01:52:13] Never have I seen a couple love like this. [01:52:15] So strong for so long. [01:52:16] I’m a lucky one. [01:52:17] To be a real life Cosby kid. [01:52:19] To have my own love. [01:52:20] To have my own Cliff and Claire right there every day supporting and pushing me all the way. [01:52:24] I tell you what I say is true. [01:52:26] 20 years. [01:52:27] Never seen them argue. [01:52:29] All they did was play. [01:52:31] It’s like, don’t mind. [01:52:32] They got into it every now and then, but. [01:52:35] Hey, they still kissed at the end of the day. [01:52:38] Bedroom door closed at night. [01:52:40] My sister and I, we knew everything was alright. [01:52:42] I want to learn to love like that. [01:52:44] The only hand I ever seen him lay to her when he was washing her back. [01:52:47] Wrapping her feet. [01:52:48] Helping her aching body. [01:52:49] Getting in the passenger seat. [01:52:50] The only put down she ever laid on him was the lady where we see. [01:52:53] I tell ya, I want to learn mom. [01:52:55] I want to learn dad. [01:52:56] I want to learn how to love like that. [01:53:08] I mean, damn right. [01:53:11] That was hot. [01:53:13] I saw somebody back there clutching their pearls. [01:53:15] I clutched my beer. [01:53:17] Like that. [01:53:19] Yeah. [01:53:20] Woo! [01:53:21] That’s what’s up. [01:53:22] Hey, give it up for him one more time, yo. [01:53:23] That’s tough. [01:53:24] I like that. [01:53:27] That’s your dog? [01:53:28] That’s your dog? [01:53:29] Go for it. [01:53:30] Thank you. [01:53:31] Thank you.