A Theory of Freshness
Arthur Jafa has a theory of fresh An aesthetics of fresh What is fresh? Is this poem fresh yet? No. Nor am I as I write it. I am half asleep Awoken from a nightmare I have forgotten the nightmare Of my country Which has forgotten me And itself And the world And everything but the whiteness Of the house The plantation was not fresh The whip broke the air inside us And apologized for itself as it struck And drew blood that was fresh They know not what they do And that is not fresh I need to sleep I need to stop refreshing Twitter Neruda said political poems are not fresh Until you understand how fresh it is to love
A lovers quarrel with my country Said Jimmie who was fresh
I woke up with these words fresh in my inner ear The words themselves in English
A language that is refreshed Every time my genius mom opens her mouth to use it Sonia says they never call us geniuses Max Roach Coltrane geniuses so fresh I need refreshment I need more sleep I need to take care of myself I remember the dream now Ah yes I remember it It was fucked up as an episode of Breaking Bad It starred Aaron Paul too But he had a pussy And I was crying nonstop And Solange was playing and I was bawling bawling just Bawling fresh tears from a bridge Fresh tears after the bridge I tried to drink it away I need a refreshment There is no light in this house I need to stop Refreshing twitter To see if the world has been refreshed Refreshed of me and my immigrant kin Cleansed of us who came fresh off the boat Don’t get fresh with the ICEman When will this page refresh We are waiting for the news to refresh in our favor Refresh its antifresh ways But the connection is slow It is still loading.