Com(Monu)ments

Queer poet and legendary Lusher English teacher Brad Richard is a Gulf Coast native, born in Port Arthur and full-fledged New Orleanian since the sixth grade. "I knew I was a writer from a young age," says Richard, "but I went through some other possibilities—like little children who don't know that they're queer do. I was going to either be a priest or a jeweler." In junior high, Richard began writing poetry, making a small chapbook with the precocious title Living and Dying, Trying and Failing. "I knew I was a poet pretty exclusively by the end of high school," he says.

Asked what sets poetry apart as an art form, Richard points to the double-edged sword of financial incentive. "The fact that it is impossible to make money at it makes poetry the most difficult for capitalism to co opt," he says. Though others might see this is as the art form's biggest drawback, Richard sees the absence of "monetary incentive to be ambitious" as giving poets unusual artistic freedom. "You do it almost entirely because you care about the art form," he says. "Poets write for an intimate audience.

In his poem Com(Monu)ments, Richard takes advantage of the intimacy of his audience to explore the nuance in contentious public discourse. The poem is constructed by piecing together public comments from a NOLA.com article about taking down Confederate monuments in New Orleans, through which he explores the relationship between poetry and public commentary. "What's the difference between a poem and a comments thread" he found himself asking, "Well the difference is, in a comment thread everybody is competing for their point to be THE point." Since poetry at its best threads together many disparate concepts, Richard brought together these competing voices to capture a heightened moment in time. "While I did have strong feelings about the monuments—I am 100% behind taking the monuments down—what I tried to do was not to make a point. I wanted to show that the comment thread had become its own kind of monument—a messy monument— of a specific moment in civic time."

By taking a few steps back from the contentious debate, it becomes easier to engage with the bigger questions of historical narrative. "The monuments are about staking out a "historical truth" or really, hegemonic lies—isn't that just what the monuments were?" says Richard. Acknowledging the toxic effect of Confederate historical propaganda, Richard reminds us that poetry can be a potent antidote to hegemony's brutal ministrations.

-Holly Devon

Com(Monu)ments

(Remix of selections from 2680 comments on www.nola.com article “Lee Circle No More: New Orleans to Remove 4 Monuments,” 12/17/15) 

Good intentions could fill the Gulf of Mexico.  

What actually happened is what's memorable. 

This is not the New Orleans I knew. 

This is emblematic of our narcissistic culture,

that our present day needs and orientations 

are absolute. Also, the Taliban—

Straight out of Fidel's playbook.

Are they still talking about renaming 

Lee Circle “Spike Lee Circle”?

Jesus was brown.

The New Orleans I knew was black 

and white people catching beads together 

on a Mardi Gras route, heck I've even 

dated a black creole chick and she 

was super hot too!  Race was never 

an issue between us and

What actually happened

is what’s memorable.

Did those good intentions keep blacks in the south 

from being brutalized slaves?  From Jim Crow laws?  

From not having the right to vote for so long?  

We had a functioning society. 

It's really sad that it's come to this.

History has resurrected those same feelings:

How could we have gone SO LONG with a statue in the heart of the city dedicated to a slave lover who NEVER, EVER step foot in LOUISIANA?

What in the world is wrong with having a monument to the White League? Status [sic] will be replaced with ML King, Jessie [sic]  Jackson, Spike Lee, Al Sharpton, Obama, and Oprah. You'll see! 

Thanks. I just saved $4000.00 on Hotel Rooms, Restaurants, and Shopping in your city. We will attend the Sugar Bowl but won’t be spending our $$$$ in YOUR CITY. We are also letting others know how you feel about Conservative History Loving Southerners. I hope your infrastructure crumbles like Detroit 

Why were the statues put up in the first place?

reconstructionmishandledbypowersinthenorthcreatedaheavyhandedmilitaryrulecreatedaslipperyslopewhenthenortherntroopsabandonedvulnerableblacksangrywhitesresentfulsouhernersleftthecreationofnegativethingsliketheKKKJimCrowetcetcnottoglorifyslavery

The statues were put up because

what actually happened

is good intentions 

could fill the Gulf of Mexico.

Put them in the Civil War museum 

Howdy folks.  All of the bad things I've done

were actually caused by anyone else but me. 

The mayor thought he was removing

an old bandage to apply a new one 

but the old womb [sic] bled out.  We need healing, 

let's just forget about monuments, I mean Xmas, 

the Sugar Bowl and Mardi Gras are almost here.

Let's just rewrite our entire history.

Jesus was brown.

Also, the Taliban—

Are we doomed to forget 

because some find the historical facts 

uncomfortable or abhorrent?  

As George Santayana wrote 

If what actually happened

is an old bandage applied to a new one

If the children enslaved beaten raped 

taken from their families

If this angry regressive reactionary 

infantilized self-hurting state

If Lincoln had lived 

If the statues are going to be removed   

Now FIX MY STREETS. 

I pay a lot of tax on my New Orleans East home.

Brad Richard