Interrogation Suite: Where did you come from / how did you arrive?
by Remica Bingham-Risher

Read the automated transcript.

I ripped my mother being born

and I am the only.

​​​​​​​ The oldest ripped my grandmother

and still came more.

We have a family history

of losing our heads,

of no one listening,

of telling someone before.

We are raucous and willful,

​​​​​​​ loud as thunder.

​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​ No one can forget us,

​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​ we bear our teeth.

We pass through bodies

​​​​​​​ like summer heat. We eat

​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​ and thicken, worry men.

​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​ They plead and suffer, come again.

I entered the world

​​​​​​​ a turning storm,

​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​ but no one stopped me

​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​ ​​​​​​​ though they’d been warned.

"Interrogation Suite: Where did you come from / how did you arrive?" by Remica Bingham-Risher. Used by permission of the poet.