The Tradition

“The Tradition” by Jericho Brown is written from the perspective of a collective “we.” This group planted colorful perennial flowers, including aster, nasturtium, and delphinium (Line 1); filmed the flowers they planted blooming; then watched this video on fast forward (“Sped the video to see blossoms / brought in seconds,” Lines 11-12). At the end of the poem, the reader discovers that the collective “we” narrating the poem are Black men, and the sped-up video of flowers blooming is a metaphor for how state-sanctioned violence accelerates the death of Black people, especially Black men. The poem ends with the names of three Black men killed by the police: “John Crawford. Eric Garner. Mike Brown” (Line 14). As the title suggests, the poem is written in a traditional poetic form, the sonnet.

“The Tradition” was first published on August 7, 2015, about a year after the killings of Crawford, Garner, and Brown. It was published as a part of the Academy of American Poet’s Poem-a-Day series, which included Jericho Brown’s comments on the work:

The poet’s relationship to language and form is an addiction where what’s past is present, a video on loop. Not watching won’t make what that video says about our future go away. (Brown, Jericho. “The Tradition.” Poets.org).

Following its initial publication in 2015, “The Tradition” became the title poem for Brown’s 2019 book, a collection which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Poetry.

Poet Biography

Jericho Brown grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana. He earned a B.A. from Dillard and a M.F.A. from the University of New Orleans. Brown worked as a speech writer for the mayor of New Orleans before earning a Ph.D. from the University of Houston.

Brown published his first collection of poetry, Please, in 2008. This book won the American Book Award. He published his second collection, The New Testament, in 2014. The New Testament won the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, a prize for “books that have made important contributions to our understanding of racism and our appreciation of the rich diversity of human cultures” (“About.” Anisfield-Wolf Book Awards). On August 7, 2015, Brown published “The Tradition” as a part of the Academy of American Poet’s Poem-a-Day series. In April of 2019, he chose it as the title poem for his third collection. The Tradition received substantial praise from critics: it won the Pulitzer Prize, the Paterson Poetry Prize, and was a Finalist for the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award.

Brown has won many other awards for his poetry, including the Whiting Award and prestigious fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard.

He is the director of the Creative Writing Program at Emory University, where he is a professor.

Poem Text

Brown, Jericho. “The Tradition.” 2015. Poets.org.

Summary

“The Tradition” begins with the names of three flowers: “Aster. Nasturtium. Delphinium” (Line 1). These are colorful perennials with blossoms that resemble stars. After this list of flowers, the first line introduces a collective “we” (Line 1). This group is planting and caring for the flowers and believes the land belongs to them: “We thought / Fingers in dirt meant it was our dirt” (Lines 1-2). This collective “we” is also discovering the names of the plants in hot conditions and being told this knowledge will alter them:

[…] learning

Names in heat, in elements classical

Philosophers said could change us (Lines 2-4).

Next the poem introduces two more flowers: “Star Gazer. / Foxglove” (Lines 4-5). Like the flowers from the opening lines, star gazer and foxglove are also colorful perennials.

The poem takes place in summer with the sun beating down. Due to global warming, it is hotter than the summers experienced by previous generations:

[…] Summer seemed to bloom against the will

Of the sun, which news reports claimed flamed hotter

On this planet than when our dead fathers

Wiped sweat from their necks (Lines 5-8).

After this image of the group’s ancestors dabbing away sweat, two more flowers are listed: “Cosmos. Baby’s Breath” (Line 8). Like the flowers mentioned before, Cosmos are colorful perennials. Baby’s Breath tends to be white (though there are also pink variations of baby’s breath); both flowers are available in both perennial or annual forms.

After these two flowers, the collective “we” is explained is finally defined: “Men like me and my brothers filmed what we / Planted.” The reader also learns that the reason these men are filming flowers is “for proof we existed” (Line 10), suggesting that the group is in a tenuous and often ignored position.

The men fast forward their video and see the flowers blossom in seconds (Lines 11-13). The blossoms are bright; the collective speaker adds that their colors are what readers “expect in poems” (Line 13). In light of this cheerful image, the last line is unexpected. It lists the names of three Black men killed by the police: “John Crawford. Eric Garner. Mike Brown” (Line 14).