Steven Willis – County Cousins [Video]

By Button Poetry

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Steven Willis, performing at the Button Studio.

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Transcript provided by YouTube (unedited)

0:02
– So this one here is for my county cousins.
0:06
Currently incarcerated for crimes committed
0:09
and or confessed, contributing to the new Jim Crow,
0:13
my county cousins.
0:15
Not to be confused by my country cousins currently in Kansas
0:19
cooking cornbread and collard greens in the kitchen naw,
0:22
those cousins you see every summer.
0:25
These cousins you see every quarter century,
0:29
in county.
0:31
Constantly making collect calls inquiring about commissary.
0:35
Cursed
0:36
to forever circulate in and out of this country’s
0:39
industrial prison complex constructed
0:41
for collecting coons for origin black continuum.
0:45
My cousin
0:47
used to wear busted jeans to Grandma’s
0:49
Christian Church in Chatham.
0:51
My cousin
0:52
was cool enough to make the most sadity girl crack a smile
0:55
was the same cousin
0:57
I saw clench a clutch, enrage the sight
0:59
of his brother’s blood on concrete.
1:01
Make that gun cry for days until one day,
1:05
a crooked Chicago cop came and caged
1:08
my cousin before college and now
1:10
my family only congregates in courtrooms.
1:13
I can hear the jury concluding the caucus
1:16
that could decide his fate but y’all
1:18
I can’t concentrate.
1:20
All I could do was think about when we were kids
1:23
and how we used to play cops and robbers on the corner
1:26
and the pleasure I got
1:27
each time my cousin was caught and placed
1:30
in imaginary cuffs but now,
1:32
guilt creeps my conscience
1:33
for I am no different from these cops turned clansmen
1:36
for how quickly
1:37
I was willing to make a criminal out of my kin.
1:39
Maybe I could have called more;
1:42
reminded him of the summers we spent
1:44
consuming carousels and cotton candy.
1:47
My cousin was a fragile child,
1:49
would hear thunder strike and cry to cuddle;
1:51
would make Big Mama colorful creations until only crumbs
1:55
were left of his Crayolas.
1:57
That’s who he is.
1:58
Not the creature who the council called capital murderer
2:01
claiming he’s responsible for this carcass.
2:03
Not even Cochran could convince me my cousin
2:06
was capable of killing anyone, who would’ve thought?
2:09
That before my cousin could
2:11
finesse father time outta 18th candle
2:14
or convince clocks and calendars
2:16
to give him the combination to eternity
2:18
that his life will become a compilation of tears ’cause
2:21
now my mother cries when the gavel cries
2:24
and our people cry when them cuffs cry
2:26
and them folks cry when them bars cry
2:28
and I cry and I cry and I cry and I cry
2:32
until my grandmother sighs and say
2:34
quit that crying boy,
2:38
’cause better he be in county
2:41
than a casket.

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This post was previously published on YouTube.

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