POETRY MONTH PODCAST | Dr. Neal Hall
April is National Poetry Month. We will be featuring poets this month during our 2nd annual Spoke Word Feature.
In addition to being a poet and author, Dr, Hall is a medical and surgical eye physician. He received his undergraduate degree from Cornell University where he played football and ran track. While at Cornell, Dr. Hall achieved All Ivy, All East Coast, All America Honors, Co-Captained The Cornell Track and Field Team, Cornell’s Athlete of the Year – 78′, Gold Medalist 78′ U.S. National Sport Festival Mini Olympics, Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame Inductee and Cornell’s Quill and Dagger Honorary Society.
Dr. Hall received his medical degree from Michigan State and his ophthalmology surgical subspecialty training from Harvard University.
Dr. Hall began writing poetry in high school; only later in life did he find his voice, vocation and salvation in composing verse.
Listen to Dr. Hall’s Spoken Word Segment
More Deception Than Reparation
Civil rights is to human rights
what Negro is to Nigger,
more deception than reparation.
Conceived as a mitigator,
civil rights was a lesser concession,
guilefully devised to disguise and mis-prize
the greater injustice and atrocities
white men have committed against humanity.
More deception than restoration,
civil rights allowed White America to fraudulently
appear redemptive and reparative to elude the
world stage of human rights abusers.
More deception than remuneration,
civil rights allowed White America to retain
its concocted world-wide moral authority and
colonizing imposition; while at the same time,
maintaining a predatory grip over Black Americans;
albeit a lesser grip for appearance sake.
More duplicity than indemnity,
civil rights is to human rights
what Negro is to Nigger,
more concession than redemption…
more deception than reparation.
Neal Hall, M.D. Copyright 2009
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Neal Hall, M.D., is a graduate of Cornell and Harvard Universities. In addition to being a medical and surgical eye doctor (Ophthalmologist), Dr. Hall is a poet and author.
Dr. Hall has written a critically acclaimed anthology of verse, Nigger For Life, reflecting his painful, later life discovery, that in “unspoken America,” race is the one thing on which he is “first” judged, by which he is “first” measured, “first”, against which his life and accomplishments are metered diminished value, dignity, equality and justice. All of which have everything to do with accessing choice, opportunity, power and freedom in America.
In Nigger For Life. The body of poetry is extraordinary … meaningful beyond black and white, worthy of – down through the ages – analytical and academic study for their compelling, empowering commentary. Nigger for Life should be read, studied and included amongst the great poetry volumes written. It is a powerful voice that speaks to the world.
It’s no ordinary muse that has Dr. Hall becoming as much a part of his poetry as his poetry has become a part of him. Rather it’s a deep sense of betrayal combined with a passion for life that shows through. He can’t help but bare his intelligence, his wit and his dreams. His anthology is as confronting as it is illuminating, as disarming as it is thought provoking
Nigger For Life’s candid, gut wrenching clarity gives it it’s tremendous power and impact to provoke both thought and honest dialog regarding race, racism, equality and freedom, not just in America, but throughout the world. The book’s unique ability to open minds, touch hearts and change philosophies of ordinary people is immeasurable.
Two notable and well respected minds best describe why Nigger For Life is timely: Cornel West, Ph.D., (Princeton University) said of the book “…his poetry has the capacity to change ordinary people’s philosophy on social and racial issues”. Beth Richie, Ph.D. (University of Illinois at Chicago) stated the “images and issues addressed in Nigger For Life are tremendously important to our [African American] people and the academic field of African American Studies”
Visit Dr. Hall online at www.surgeonpoet.com.
