Harryette Mullen | We Are Not Responsible
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In this week's episode of The Get Lit Minute, your weekly poetry podcast, we spotlight Harryette Mullen, a poet and a professor of English at the University of California, Los Angeles. Mullen has said, \\u201cwriting became important to me when I was very young. It was the only way I could communicate with my father after my parents were divorced. My mother believed in educating \\u2018the whole child.\\u2019 She made sure my sister and I always had books to read, and she somehow found money to pay for music and dance lessons. She also encouraged us to draw and write. My sense of poetry was awakened by the formal and informal, written and oral rhymes and rhythms of family, church, and school.\\u201d
\\u201cWe Are Not Responsible\\u201d
We are not responsible for your lost or stolen relatives.\\xa0
We cannot guarantee your safety if you disobey our instructions.\\xa0
We do not endorse the causes or claims of people begging for handouts.\\xa0
We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.\\xa0
\\xa0
Your ticket does not guarantee that we will honor your reservations.\\xa0
In order to facilitate our procedures, please limit your carrying on.\\xa0
Before taking off, please extinguish all smoldering resentments.\\xa0
\\xa0
If you cannot understand English, you will be moved out of the way.\\xa0
In the event of a loss, you\\u2019d better look out for yourself.\\xa0
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.\\xa0
\\xa0
You were detained for interrogation because you fit the profile.\\xa0
You are not presumed to be innocent if the police\\xa0
have reason to suspect you are carrying a concealed wallet.\\xa0
It\\u2019s not our fault you were born wearing a gang color.\\xa0
It is not our obligation to inform you of your rights.\\xa0
\\xa0
Step aside, please, while our officer inspects your bad attitude.\\xa0
You have no rights we are bound to respect.\\xa0
Please remain calm, or we can\\u2019t be held responsible\\xa0
for what happens to you.
Read more about Mullen and her work at \\xa0http://getlitanthology.org/poemdetail/77/