Sacco's Speech

Thanks to Donna Ratajczak for alerting me to the fact that today is the 80th anniversary of the Sacco & Vanzetti execution and requesting that I post this poem that I "wrote" over 25 years ago. It's a pantoum based on Sacco's speech to the judge after being sentenced to death. All the words are Sacco's; I just arranged them into pantoum form. It was composed while I was studying with John Ashbery, who is a great fan of fixed poetic forms. It was published in 1982 in Benjamin Sloan's magazine Mothers of Mud. I've made one correction here. In the original published version, based on a misunderstanding of the rules, I did not adhere to the strict pantoum order of lines in the final stanza. Unfortunately, some of the lines don't fit within the column and I haven't figured out how to indent the spillover. Pantoum trivia: Rodgers and Hammerstein used the form as the basis for the song "I Am Going to Like It Here" in the musical "Flower Drum Song."


I am not an orator.
It is not very familiar with me the English language.
I never know, never heard, even read in history anything so cruel as this court.
After seven years prosecuting they still consider us guilty.

It is not very familiar with me the English language.
I know the sentence will be between two class, the oppressed class and the rich class.
After seven years prosecuting they still consider us guilty.
There will always be collision between one and the other.

I know the sentence will be between two class, the oppressed class and the rich class.
We fraternize the people with the books, with the literature.
There will always be collision between one and the other.
You persecute the people, tyrannize over them, and kill them.

We fraternize the people with the books, with the literature.
We try the education of people always.
You persecute the people, tyrannize over them, and kill them.
You try to put a path between us and some other nationality that hates each other.

We try the education of people always.
That is why I am here today on this bench, for having been the oppressed class.
You try to put a path between us and some other nationality that hates each other.
Well, you are the oppressor.

That is why I am here today on this bench, for having been the oppressed class.
I would like to tell you my life, but what is the use?
Well, you are the oppressor.
I am never be guilty, never--not yesterday nor today nor forever.

I would like to tell you my life, but what is the use?
I never know, never heard, even read in history anything so cruel as this court.
I am never be guilty, never--not yesterday nor today nor forever.
I am not an orator.