{"id":656,"date":"2020-11-14T04:30:29","date_gmt":"2020-11-14T04:30:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kenner.dotsandspaces.uk\/blog\/?p=656"},"modified":"2020-11-14T04:34:21","modified_gmt":"2020-11-14T04:34:21","slug":"highlighting-black-intellectuals-and-artists-around-the-world-john-murillo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kenner.dotsandspaces.uk\/blog\/uncategorized\/highlighting-black-intellectuals-and-artists-around-the-world-john-murillo\/","title":{"rendered":"Highlighting Black Intellectuals and Artists Around the World: John Murillo"},"content":{"rendered":"\nJoin us in celebrating amazing Black intellectuals and artists around the world! Today we are introducing John Murillo, an American poet.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nJohn Murillo<\/strong> is the author of the poetry collections, Up Jump the Boogie <\/em>(Cypher 2010, Four Way 2020), finalist for both the Kate Tufts Discovery Award and the Pen Open Book Award, and Kontemporary Amerikan Poetry <\/em>(forthcoming from Four Way Books 2020).\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a>\n\n
Learn more about John Murillo on his website https:\/\/www.johnmurillo.com\/<\/a> <\/figcaption>\n\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\nJohn Murillo’s poetry works to bring awareness to the realities of African American life. His poetry is written in a very accessible and narrative style. The descriptive imagery and passionate writing in his poems are captivating.\n\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n

We would like to feature a poem by John Murillo, titled Enter the Dragon. <\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Enter the Dragon<\/h1>\n\n\n\n\n                                 \u2014Los Angeles, California, 1976<\/em>\n\n\n\n\n
For me, the movie starts with a black man
Leaping into an orbit of badges, tiny moons\n\nCatching the sheen of his perfect black afro.
Arc kicks, karate chops, and thirty cops\n\nOn their backs. It starts with the swagger,
The cool lean into the leather front seat\n\nOf the black and white he takes off in.
Deep hallelujahs of moviegoers drown\n\nOut the\u00a0wah wah<\/em>\u00a0guitar. Salt & butter
High-fives,\u00a0Right on, brother!<\/em>\u00a0and Daddy\n\nGlowing so bright he can light the screen
All by himself. This is how it goes down.\n\nFriday night and my father drives us
Home from the late show, two heroes\n\nCadillacking across King Boulevard.
In the car\u201fs dark cab, we jab and clutch,\n\nJim Kelly and Bruce Lee with popcorn
Breath, and almost miss the lights flashing\n\nIn the cracked side mirror. I know what\u2019s
Under the seat, but when the uniforms\n\nApproach from the rear quarter panel,
When the fat one leans so far into my father\u2019s\n\nWindow I can smell his long day\u2019s work,
When my father\u2014this John Henry of a man\u2014\n\nHides his hammer, doesn\u2019t buck, tucks away
His baritone, license and registration shaking as if\n\nShowing a bathroom pass to a grade school
Principal, I learn the difference between cinema\n\nAnd city, between the moviehouse cheers
Of old men and the silence that gets us home.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n\n\nSource<\/a>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Join us in celebrating amazing Black intellectuals and artists around the world! Today we are introducing John Murillo, an American poet. John Murillo is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenner.dotsandspaces.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenner.dotsandspaces.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenner.dotsandspaces.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenner.dotsandspaces.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenner.dotsandspaces.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=656"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/kenner.dotsandspaces.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":672,"href":"https:\/\/kenner.dotsandspaces.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/656\/revisions\/672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kenner.dotsandspaces.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenner.dotsandspaces.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kenner.dotsandspaces.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}