Pavlic poetry on PBS

“All Along It Was A Fever,” a lengthy meditation on race in America by Distinguished Research Professor of English and Creative Writing Ed Pavlic is featured on PBS.org:

Much of [the poem] deals with the violence that Black America experiences.

“I felt that I had a vantage point to things that were going on, based on this fluidly trans-racial, multi-racial life I’ve led. I think I see things in a different light than your average commentator on CNN.”

Pavlic says the confrontations with police that he and his friends experienced have been happening for a long time, but it hasn’t been until recent years when they’ve been captured on cellphones and distributed through social media that they’ve gotten attention by mainstream media.

“Part of the rage and and anger and desperation that erupts with every new killing is because it’s so familiar. Black parents are thinking we went through this, now it’s our kids. Are our grandkids also going to have to go through this? When will it stop?”

Passage “XXIV” has particular resonance right now, in the wake of the most recent wave of police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota. Two years ago when Pavlic was writing this poem, there were other high profile shootings in the headlines. “I began by asking, what is the target of these shootings? And my answer is the thing being targeted is the space between people.”

An audio recording of Pavlic reading is avaiable tat the link. Good reminder that of course public scholarship extends to the arts and humanities and has an important role to play in helping us understand the times in which we live.

Image: Photo by REUTERS/Adam Bettcher, via PBS