Tony Gloeggler: “I started writing as a way to try and figure things out for myself. It was mostly about things that people I knew didn’t talk about. And I think that’s why I still write. As a narrative poet, I’m often asked about how much of my material comes from everyday life and the answer, degree, depends on each poem. While all of the poems convey a true intent, the genuine feeling, I will sometimes change the actual facts to make the poem more effective. With this one, I didn’t have to change a thing. It happened exactly like this. I just wrote it down. I don’t think a lot of white poets write about race and I sat with it for years. I got a bit of a nudge when I became aware of the Hoagland/Rankine debate and I’m really interested in how these kinds of things play out on a Brooklyn street corner.”
