photo of Harryette Mullen by Hank Lazer, Venice, CA, 2007
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We Are Not Responsible
We are not responsible for your lost or stolen relatives.
We cannot guarantee your safety if you disobey our instructions.
We do not endorse the causes or claims of people begging for handouts.
We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.
Your ticket does not guarantee that we will honor your reservations.
In order to facilitate our procedures, please limit your carrying on.
Before taking off, please extinguish all smoldering resentments.
If you cannot understand English, you will be moved out of the way.
In the event of a loss, you’d better look out for yourself.
Your insurance was cancelled because we can no longer handle
your frightful claims. Our handlers lost your luggage and we
are unable to find the key to your legal case.
You were detained for interrogation because you fit the profile.
You are not presumed to be innocent if the police
have reason to suspect you are carrying a concealed wallet.
It’s not our fault you were born wearing a gang color.
It is not our obligation to inform you of your rights.
Step aside, please, while our officer inspects your bad attitude.
You have no rights that we are bound to respect.
Please remain calm, or we can’t be held responsible
for what happens to you.
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Harryette Mullen’s books include Recyclopedia (Graywolf, 2006), winner of a PEN
Beyond Margins Award, and Sleeping with the Dictionary (University of California,
2002), a finalist for a National Book Award, National Book Critics Circle Award, and
Los Angeles Times Book Prize. A collection of essays and interviews, The Cracks
Between What We Are and What We Are Supposed to Be, was published in 2012 by
University of Alabama. Graywolf published Urban Tumbleweed: Notes from a Tanka
Diary in 2013. She teaches courses in American poetry, African American literature,
and creative writing at UCLA. [See this link for more poems and information.]
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Kerry James Marshall, Untitled (Club Scene), 2013; acrylic and glitter on unstretched canvas.