Poem Found Here: "The Summer A Tribe Called Quest Broke Up" by Hanif Abdurraqib How much should a reader know about a reference? I didn't know what summer A Tribe Called Quest Broke Up. I also didn't know what songs they were famous for. So I looked them up. Can I Kick It? Yes, you can! I remember that song. A quick wiki read showed that they broke up in 1998. And I'm there. At least my memory is there: outdoors in the neighborhood during the summer: chilling out with some friends or people from the neighborhood. The music fills the backdrop as it would be on some 104.9 or 99.7 around where I lived. But we don't start out with music we start out in color, "all them black / boys in the 'hood." I find the color interesting and then the mention of the boys in the 'hood because it feels like we're opening up to a movie or a visual memory. The structures of adjusted lines brings a feel that the reader ...
Formerly the RetailMFA, This is the Poetry Blog of Darrell Dela Cruz