Bimpé Fageyinbo 2/28/21 Bimpé Fageyinbo 2/28/21

an jí róró / 04

a visual podcast series by Bimpé

episode 04— spite &.

an jí róró (AHN-G-ROE-ROE) is a poetic conversation series by Bimpé Fageyinbo featuring special guests. an jí róró breaks down poetry as we reflect on our lives and the poetry and experiences that shape it. a new episode will be released each Sunday in the month of February.

read along with us, in fact, read the poem first. find the poem below.

on episode 04 of an jí róró, a poetic conversation series by Bimpé Fageyinbo featuring special guests, i sit down in conversation with artist tarah douglas, to talk about “spite,” a poem from my second book what was me (2017). douglas’ work has been exhibited throughout the United States including Harlem School of the Arts, Studio Museum of Harlem, the Gallatin at New York University, Project for Empty Space, Newark Arts Festival, and Winter Street Gallery. douglas currently resides in New Haven, Connecticut where she is pursuing her MFA in photography at the Yale School of Art.

READ WITH US:

spite

by Bimpé

I will live your dream

I will live your dream so well

I will live your dream better than you

I will live your dream like it was my own dream

I will live your dream so good

you may want to re-think your dream

you might want to pick a new one, that’s

how good I will live your dream,

I’ll live it like it was never yours

I will live it better than you could have dreamed

that’s how good I will live your dream.

Bimpé Fageyinbo 2/21/21 Bimpé Fageyinbo 2/21/21

an jí róró /03

a visual podcast series by Bimpé

episode 03— in the absence of.

read along with us, in fact, read the poem first. find the poem below.

on episode 03 of an jí róró, a poetic conversation series by Bimpé Fageyinbo featuring special guests, i sit down in conversation with Robin Gaby Fisher, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, a (multiple) New York Times Best Selling author, and the Director of Journalism at Rutgers University-Newark. she has written 12 books, including, After the Fire, The Woman Who Wasn’t There, Choosing Hope, The Boys of the Dark, and Perfectly Clear.

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in the absence of

by bimpé

what will I do in the absence of insignificance?

maybe
find God better
find myself better

truth better

this better
love better

purpose better.

if this becomes habit, will I be a better person— probably.
less meaningless,
more meaningful

right?
it makes sense,
lose something — gain something.
maybe
perspective,
maybe more of this,
maybe I’ll hear the voice of an angel, maybe.
maybe I’ll find the answer to the reason,
maybe I’ll just sleep, but at least I won’t be wasting time.

what can I gain from meaningless things—
nothing.

but what can I lose?

time.

which means no God
no self
no truth

none of this no love
no purpose,

no angel.

so I’ll just take a meaningful risk and remove myself

from meaninglessness.

Bimpé Fageyinbo 2/14/21 Bimpé Fageyinbo 2/14/21

an jí róró / 02

a visual podcast series by Bimpé

episode 02— we just weren’t doing it right.

read along with us, in fact, read the poem first. find the poem below.

on episode 02 of an jí róró, a poetic conversation series by Bimpé Fageyinbo featuring special guests, i sit down in conversation with Rashawn Davis, the Racial Justice Fund Manager at Change.org, one of New Jersey’s 100 most influential millennials (Insider-NJ), and the youngest person in the history of Newark to be certified and appear on a municipal election ballot, to talk about “we just weren’t doing it right,” a poem from my second book, what was me (2017). Rashawn is a driven advocate for police reform, racial justice and implementing change in his community. He is a graduate from Georgetown University with a degree in Government and has earned master’s degree from New York University's Wagner School.

Rashawn produces a bi-weekly newsletter the Weekly Bread, which covers the latest in politics and policy.

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we just weren’t doing it right

by bimpé

sometimes i try to put what we were doing down,

and then i

stop myself

in the midst of it, because

i just don’t believe myself.

i want to convince myself that

what we were doing was wrong,

that we didn’t know what love was

but,

i think we did.

i can’t convince myself that i didn’t love you, and

i should convince myself

that you didn’t love me, because

you left me

and why would you leave me if you

loved me.

to say- it was because you loved me that much

seems too theatrical, for me

because

if your life was better off without me,

i still wouldn’t let you go.

one might say- that’s not love

that’s selfishness

and i know,

because i have concluded that

selfishness is

the opposite of love

but

i don’t care,

i would’ve never left you,

i’d just correct what needed to be

corrected.

but the point of it all is that

i think we knew what we were doing,

we just weren’t doing it right.

whatever right means.