*info passed on to me from Fred Joiner, poet & webmaster for www.divinecipher.com

The Bop According to Afaa M. Weaver (developed at Cave Canem)
*parts of this were cut out for the sake of giving history and definition*

Bop

The "Bop" is a form of at least twenty-three lines, which may vary according to the number of lines in the refrain. The structure is:

opening sextet locate anger
refrain line from song lyric
octet process anger "work"
refrain repeated song lyric
sextet resolution
refrain repeated song lyric

The purpose of the form is to investigate a complaint or source of anger which you have. This does not have to be rage. It can be an annoyance. It can be a social/political issue or a broken heart. Stanzas are marked here to show the process and function of each stanza.

The rhythm (stress) in the lines is to follow the emotional flow of your subject as it feels against the music from which you pick your refrain. For example, if you pick a piece from The Modern Jazz Quartet, the feeling of vibraphones (Milt Jackson) should be there in your word choice and the flow of the line, and the MJQ piece you pick should help you locate the source of your anger/complaint.

Refrains may vary in length.

Rambling
in Lewisburg Prison

In general population, census
is consensus--ain't nowhere to run
to in these walls, walls like a mind--
we visitors stand in a yellow circle
so the tower can frisk us with light,
finger the barrels on thirsty rifles.

I got rambling, got rambling on my mind.

In general population, madness runs
swift through the river changing, changing
in hearts, men tacked in their chairs,
resigned to hope we weave into air,
talking this and talking that and one brutha
asks "Tell us how to get these things
they got, these houses, these cars.
We want the real revolution." Things...

I got rambling, got rambling on my mind.

In the yellow circle the night stops
like a boy shot running from a Ruger 9mm
carrying .44 magnum shells, a sista
crying in the glass booth to love's law,
to violence of backs bent over to the raw
libido of men, cracking, cracking, crack...

I got rambling, got rambling on my mind.

Afaa M. Weaver
Lyric quotes from
Robert Johnson
"Rambling Blues"

Original version
June 17, 1997
Group "C"

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