an jí róró / 02
a visual podcast series by Bimpé
episode 02— we just weren’t doing it right.
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 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.
READ WITH US:
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.