'As a poet, you're trying to contain multitudes,' says the NAACP Award winner, whose latest project sets his writing about incarceration to the sounds of slide-guitar.
House of Unendingshares his harrowing experiences of incarceration, painting a lucid picture of the dark realities of prison life and the injustices many Black men face. The poet, truth-teller, and legal scholar has been through the system himself, so he profoundly understands the emotional toll it can take on an individual’s liberty, sense of identity, and personal autonomy. His album, scored by friend and musician Reed Turchi, reflects that.
BETTS: Yeah. When I think about how these songs exist in the world, it’s a man singing out to a community. I think part of the loneliness that comes with being incarcerated and motivates us to do the work of building libraries in prison is that we’re sort of singing into the darkness. And becoming a poet was a way for me to sing into the darkness. This album is a different kind of singing, and the guitar becomes a kind of special sauce that you get with this particular project.
BETTS: It’s confronting a bit of tenderness that exists in those moments as well. Some of my earliest recognitions of the tenderness that men in really violent circumstances show for each other are from scenes like that. So I’m trying to capture that complexity of emotions. PEAY: It is the legacy that really does follow suit. Even with my own father, it’s a very intense relationship, but I do really appreciate his perspective and am inspired by him. Going back to the vivid imagery you paint of living in prison, like on “Missouri,” when you talk about overcrowding and lack of human essentials, is talking about these experiences healing work for you?
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