23: Why Activist Poet Alice Lovelace Refuses To Use the Language of Her Oppressors

Episode 23: Alice Lovelace - A Peaceful DisrupterMusic AttributionVariations on a theme 1 » The Rush (w/ drum) - Variations 1 (c) by PodcastACThis work is licensed under aCreative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.You should have received a copy of the license along with thiswork. If not, see <http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/Threshold Questions and Delicious QuotesWhat is "This Poem" really about?This poem is a cultural hybrid Travelin' everywhereBelongin' nowhereIrresponsible, Irreverent And totally irrelevantWhat do you mean by Peaceful Disrupter?I am never happy with the status quo. So, I'm always looking for ways to disrupt the status quo and to move it in a more progressive [way] or [by] empowering those who I see are being left behind.And that has to happen a lot, they have to be those who make other people uncomfortable, so that in their discomfort they actually deeply contemplate change. Because when we are comfortable, we don't contemplate change.... I'm a peaceful disruptor. I don't get loud. I don't, I definitely look for opportunities to shift power and to shift the conversation,What does "asking permission" mean in a classroom?When I walk into a classroom, the first thing I say to my class is I asked permission to be there. And often the teachers don't understand that, but I will say to the students, “this is your community, and I am an interloper, and other adults have made a decision that I should be here, but the rightful decision-makers are you because you were the one who had the power to make this a success or to make it a failure”. So, I always ask their permission.How can you fight the power of the false narrative?I've never forgot the lesson of. Standing up to bullies, not getting into the stories people are telling about you, ...the moment that you try to speak to that story, all it's going to do is keep that story spinning. So, I would never address it.Alice Lovelace: This Poem is for reading only after I'm dead, as the weight of the words could killThis poem is full of blood, fornication, guts, and gunsThis poem hates nationalists, sexists, racists, factionalists and fundamentalists of all ilk's However, this poem encourages creative lies when those lies are in line with this poem’s politics This poem, This poem, This poem is about starvation in Ethiopia, tribal warfare in Rwanda, ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia, oil workers striking in Nigeria, starvation, re-classification, indoctrination, stagnation, and the return of the colonialists to oversee our freedomThis poem, This poem, This poem is about moving forward but you goin' nowhere, you goin' nowhere, you goin' nowhereBill Cleveland:  Well, the first time I laid eyes and ears on Alice Lovelace, she was standing in bright blue lights on a stage in Atlanta, Georgia. She was a diminutive presence in a delicate white dress, who, from the second she began to speak, literally took over the theater.AL: This poem is about arming for peaceWhile withholding food until those ungodly hordes Recognize the salvation of Capitalists ideals This poem is about the salvation of Russia...NotThe unification of Europe...NotThe liberation of Africa...Not This poem shits on other poemsThis poem is about psychobabble posing as ArtAnd Art so fuckin' pure it offends This poem is about dropping the bombs on Iraq for border aggressions While patting the Serbs on the backAbout boycotting Cuba 'cause they won't be like usWhile rewarding China 'cause they won't be like us This poem advocates shitting on the Queen's English and the Queen This poem sanctions the shooting of Career politicians on sightThis poem is a cultural hybrid Travelin' everywhereBelongin' nowhereIrresponsible               Irreverent And totally irrelevantThis poem isAbout Jesus prostitutesMt. SinaiswindlersJerusalemjunkiesTrashin' the airwave Foulin' up my system Pissin' on my povertyThis poem is about About gettin' a fix on the problems Without gettin' your hands dirty About Klansmen giving out free ammunition To convicted felons to protest gun controlAbout withholding abortion rights to teach thoseUnwed teenage welfare cheats a lesson in humilityBC: Well, we weren't referring to it as spoken word back then, but as far as I was concerned, at that moment, in that space, it was THE word. And that word was commanding, no grabbing my attention as though the lyrics to that Screaming Jay Hawkins song were coming true. “I Put a Spell on You”AL: This poem is about the needTo write poetry while the peopleStarve and imagine your words feeding the massesWhen in reality, man you just you movin' 'n groovinGoin' nowhere Movin' n' grovin' Goin' no where Movin' n' grovin'Goin'                   Goin'                    Goin'Goin'                   Gone BC: But, since then we've become friends, colleagues, collaborators. I have to say. That spell that power to teach the moment to help you see life's vexing puzzle pieces in a new way that reveals something hot, something that will feed you and those you love. Well, that power is still there. If you don't believe me, then just listen up.This is Change the Story, Change the World, A Chronicle of Art and Community Transformation. My name is Bill Cleveland.BC: Alice and I held our conversation over two days in early 2021. We started with me as the guest on her new podcast, from the Arts Exchange in Atlanta. […] Then, we zoomed on over here to The Center for the Study of Art and Community to record this episode. Part One: Organizing is a Tool of Culture.BC: Hey, Alice Lovelace.AL: Oh, there you areBC: I see you. You haven't aged a bit since yesterday.AL: Thank God.BC: Yeah, I want to thank you for just a marvelous conversation, and I just I'm excited that you're doing this show. Tell me a little bit about the show before we start into our regular interview. What, where did come from?AL:  So doing the Arts Exchange and Atlanta, so it was an organization that I helped to found back in 83, 84. We are still going strong. Actually, I retired, went back on the board and sold the building and Grant Park, bought a building in East Point, renovated it and moved us in there.Once the. virus hit, we had to go with, everything online. And so, they came to me a couple months ago and asked me what I do a podcast, because we'd been doing some little conversations, but they thought that this might build a build on that audience and expand it.And so, I said, sure I'll do the podcast.BC: I don't know why they pick a person that's shy as you to do it, though.{laughter…}AL: Yeah, I have to...