Home / Books / The Tradition

The Tradition

Book by Jericho Brown · 9 quotes · Poetry, Poem, Death

Browse quotes from The Tradition.

Book detail: The Tradition is presented as a focused source page for quotations connected with this book, collection, transcript, or source record.

Browse quotes from The Tradition.

The quotes below use the same card format as the rest of the site, including topics, source notes, copy actions, image creation, and sharing controls.

Filter quotes by topic

All Poetry Poem Death African Americans Blacks Murder Police Police Brutality Anger Anonymity Black Women Concern Danger Emmett Till Flowers Frustration Grief Happiness History Human Contact

The Tradition Quotes

“By the time the blooms Unfurl themselves for a few hours of light, the women who tend them Are already at work. Blue. I’ll never know who started the lie that we are lazy, But I’d love to wake that bastard up At foreday in the morning, toss him in a truck, and drive him under God Past every bus stop in America to see all those black folk Waiting to go work for whatever they want.”

Poetry Women Work Morning Poems Flowers Black Women African Americans Blacks Working

Book:The Tradition

Source: The Tradition

“All my anxiety is separation anxiety. I want to believe you are here with me, But the bed is bigger and the trash Overflows. Someone righteous should Take out my garbage. I am so many odd And enviable things. Righteous is not One of them. I’d rather a man to avoid Than a man to imagine in a realm Unseen, though even the doctor who Shut your eyes swears you’re somewhere As close as breath. Mine, not yours. You don’t have breath. You got Heaven. That’s supposed to be my Haven. I want you to tell me it sparkles There. I want you to tell me anything Again and again while I turn you over To quiet you or to wake and remind you I can’t be expected to clean up after a man.”

Love Death Poetry Loss Grief Poem Mourning

Book:The Tradition

Source: The Tradition

“Let me be Another invisible, Used and forgotten and left To whatever narrow miseries I make for myself Without anybody asking What's wrong. Concern for my soul offends me....”

Poetry Poem Solitude Concern Misery Anonymity Invisibility Human Contact

Book:The Tradition

Source: The Tradition

“There is the happiness you have And the happiness you deserve.”

Happiness Poetry Poem Just Desserts

Book:The Tradition

Source: The Tradition

“When I kill me, I will Do it the same way most Americans do, I promise you: cigarette smoke Or a piece of meat on which I choke Or so broke I freeze In one of these winters we keep Calling worst. I promise if you hear Of me dead anywhere near A cop, then that cop killed me.”

Death Poetry Poem Murder Police Smoking Police Brutality

Book:The Tradition

Source: The Tradition

“I will not shoot myself In the head, and I will not shoot myself In the back, and I will not hang myself With a trashbag, and if I do, I promise you, I will not do it In a police car while handcuffed Or in the jail cell of a town I only know the name of Because I have to drive through it To get home.”

Death Poetry Danger Poem Murder Police African Americans Blacks Police Brutality

Book:The Tradition

Source: The Tradition

“We few left who listen to the radio leave Ourselves available to surprise.”

Poetry Listening Poem Surprise Radio

Book:The Tradition

Source: The Tradition

“I want you To heed that I'm still here Just beneath your skin and in Each organ The way anger dwells in a man Who studies the history of his nation. If I can't leave you Dead, I'll have You vexed.”

Death Poetry History Poem Anger Illness Frustration

Book:The Tradition

Source: The Tradition

“We do not recognize the body Of Emmett Till. We do not know The boy’s name nor the sound Of his mother wailing. We have Never heard a mother wailing. We do not know the history Of this nation in ourselves. We Do not know the history of our- Selves on this planet because We do not have to know what We believe we own.”

Poetry Poem Racism Ownership African Americans Blacks Emmett Till

Book:The Tradition

Source: The Tradition