Original subtitles

? I know my parents loved me ?

? Stand behind me Come what may ?

? I know now that I'm ready, yeah ?

? For I finally heard them say ?

? It's a different world ?

? Than where you come from ?

? Yes, it is now, yeah ?

? Here's our chance to make it ?

? And if we focus on our goal ?

? You can dish it We can take it ?

? Hey, just remember That you've been told ?

? It's a different world ?

? It's a different world ?

? It's a different world ?

? It's a different world ?

? Yeah, than where you come from ?

? Than where you come from ?

A fine example of poetic language

can be found in James Joyce's Ulysses.

The last chapter, after Molly describes the opposed marriage proposal.

So simple, yet so beautiful.

"Then I asked him with my eyes, yes�

"to say yes, my mountain flower,

"and first I put my arms around him, yes,

"and drew him down to me, so he could feel my breasts

"all perfume, yes�"

"�and his heart was going like mad

"and yes, I said yes, I will, yes."

Yes!

Yes!

They act like they're at a Pistons game.

I tell ya.

- Excuse me? - Yes, Dwayne?

I think Mr. Joyce gets carried away with all this "yes, I said yes,

"she said yes, we all said yes."

We get the point.

Also, the last chapter was all one sentence. Where is the punctuation?

It's called creative license.

Where I went to school, it's called a "D" in grammar.

Dwayne, tell me something. Do you like Michael Jordan?

- Who doesn't? - Piston fans.

That's because my man "L" lives in the clouds.

Now, when Jordan leaps, he's got time to wave to the fans

call his wife, flip some pancakes, do a 360, and then

slam the ball into the hoop.

But the point of the game is to get the ball into the basket.

What does it matter that he can stay in the air so long?

That's the difference between another two points and art.

Exactly. James Joyce, Michael Jordan- creative license.

- Whitley. - Mr. Mann�

No, Paul. I told you all to call me Paul.

My favorite apostle� Paul.

I feel the last passage represents a personification of love,

the eternal affirmation of passion,

a world without commas, colons and semi-colons

where love is just one long refrain.

Yes, yes, yes!

Please, please, please!

Excuse me, Paul.

I'm only in this class is because they won't let me graduate without it.

I'm a mathematician, a man of science. Poetry is useless in my life.

Dwayne, I disagree.

Poetry is far from useless.

In South Africa, I was forbidden to read James Joyce, James Baldwin,

Langston Hughes, Robert Louis Stevenson, even our own national poets

because their ideas might have stimulated thought and opened my mind.

You were forbidden to read Langston Hughes?

In a repressive society,

someone who makes people think can be very dangerous.

Fortunately, you all live in a free society

but freedom has its price.

Your assignment for Monday is to write a poem.

It's bad enough we got to read them but now write them, too?

Don't look so worried, Dwayne. It doesn't have to be Shakespeare.

Your poems can be any length, any style.

The point is be creative.

Can I have someone else write it?

Do you want to take this course a fourth time?

No, thank you. I'll pass.

I want a messy Melvin burger with cheese and enough onions to make mother cry.

- Oh! - Make that two and a soda.

- Wait, hold the onions on mine. - I never did like you.

- What are we looking at? - Nothing.

Nothing?

- I call Freddie Brooks something. - She might be.

Ernest, you've seen her 100 times. When did this happen?

Somewhere around 56 but I wasn't sure until 97.

Whoo, the "E" man wants some play.

Two messy Melvins, one without onions.

All right, I'll take the onions.

Every time I try to talk to her, moldy locks gets there before me.

He's the editor of The Hillman Chronicle. He's hairy and heavy.

I don't like this, man, at all.

What do they have in common? So they're both artistes.

So neither one of them combs their hair.

So they both wear clothes the Salvation Army threw out.

You're in trouble, cous'.

Okay, you've got your plastic container, your plastic fork

plastic ketchup packet, probably got plastic ketchup.

It's all non-biodegradable. It's all from one messy Melvin burger to go.

It's incredible.

You know, you could call your collage Planet To Go.

Using ecology to get over? That is weak!

Livingston, to me, this represents the communion between art and� garbage.

- You understand my art. - I do.

- And you really understand me. - I do?

And now I want to understand you better.

Well, there's not that much to understand.

I'm a redhead and a vegetarian.

Listen. How would you like to go to the Third World festival tonight?

Lots of great vegetarian dishes, great music.

I'd love to.

- Okay. So I'll see you at 7:00? - 7:00.

�and in 1958, with only a $200 investment

my daddy founded the Johnson- automotive works.

- Hello, Freddie. - Hi, Ernest. That's a great sweater.

- I got it from the Salvation Army. - Mmm.

Something smells good over here. And I know it's not food.

I don't wear perfume.

Maybe it's my soap. It's made with honey and bee pollen.

Ernest.

Are you free Saturday night?

I've got tickets to the game.

We'll grab a bite to eat at a restaurant without a drive-through window.

Sounds terrific.

Meet you at lobby at 7:00.

- And use that soap. - Wear that sweater.

- Bye. - Bye.

Man, somebody as ugly as you should never look unhappy.

You see that Paul over there?

He throws in a couple of "thou that's here", "thou this there",

and a few "ruby lips"

and these babes are foaming at the mouth.

There's lots to be said about poetry.

I have caught many a fine woman with a well-placed verse.

I cannot see you with your woman spouting sonnets?

No, sonnets only get you to second base.

If you want a home run, you need an ode.

- Ode? - That's how I messed Jaleesa's mind.

Let me teach you one of my favorites. "Ode to Jaleesa."

J is for the joy you bring me as you pass me by.

A is for the association I have with your left and right thigh.

L is for your luscious lips as you kiss me in the night.

E is for the emptiness I feel when things ain't going right.

I already told you about that other "E."

S is for the sexy way you laugh at all my jokes.

A is for the author, thrilling, chilling

always willing, sho' 'nuff poet, Walter Oakes.

Well, I think I now know why Jaleesa left you standing at the altar.

I see you had a good time with Livingston last night.

Yes, I did. I sure did. Lord knows I did.

Singing in the morning? You made music last night.

Livingston and I won the limbo contest.

How low did you go?

It was the most exciting night of my life.

Finally, the girl has got some tea to pour.

Sounds like a potful.

After the festival we went to Dina's Doughnuts and we sat�

And we sat�

and we sat�

till the sun came up over that big, rotating doughnut.

I'd finish his sentences, and he'd finish mine.

When we were silent, a lot was being said.

Did you get some sweet lip or not?

Kim, there are times when not touching is just as stimulating as touching.

- No sweet lips? - And this was not one of those times!

- There is sugar in this tea. - Refined sugar.

- Speaking of fine, Ernest called. - Who?

Ernest. I have a date with him tonight.

I can see you with Livingston, but Ernest?

He belongs with someone more traditional, more goal-oriented.

Someone like� me.

- Touch him and you'll draw back a stub. - It's a nub.

My God. I can't believe I just said that.

I want both of them. What does that mean?

It means the drought is over.

Oh, no, it means I'm one of those insatiable women.

I'm a smooth operator.

I'm a cold-hearted snake.

Yeah. Feels good, doesn't it?

Guys, please hear me. I had a very intense evening with Livingston.

How can I think of having the same thing with Ernest?

Freddie, this is the '90s.

In a few years, nuns will be dating.

- Is that a good thing? - It is if you're a priest.

Come on, it's going to be going on.

Ron, how many languages do I use to tell you I have work?

It's a mud-wrestling matinee.

Thick-thigh Thelma and nasty Natasha in a grudge match.

- That mud pool will be busy today. - Without me.

- I told you I have to write this poem. - What's your dilemma? I finished mine.

- You did? - I had to push myself on this one.

I dug deep into my soul.

You couldn't dig that deep. You're only 5'4".

- I'm 5'6". Do you want to hear the poem? - Okay, enlighten me, please.

In the middle of the night, the sun sleeps.

- It's a nice title. - That's the poem, man.

You heard what Paul said, any form, any length. Just put something down.

What will come down is my grade point average.

If thick-thigh Thelma stays in town, I don't want to graduate.

You may not graduate anyway.

Is my assignment giving you trouble or do you cut your nails that short?

By Monday, you can call me Captain Hook.

I ran into Colonel Taylor.

He told me you are his prized math student.

I feel cheated not seeing that performance in my class.

He teaches something that I like.

If you only want to study subjects that you like,

you should go to vocational school.

You ask this chair how long I've been here.

The only thing I've written is the date and that's changed since I sat down.

Writer's block. That's a good sign.

I'm off to the mud-wrestling matinee.

Wait, I beg your pardon?

I never miss thick-thigh Thelma.

She's truly poetry in motion.

Good luck.

"Good luck"?

Young man.

- That is not a pillow. - Mmm.

Not only is it too hard to read, it's too hard to sleep on.

I thought Shakespeare might inspire me but the old boy knocked me out.

How could this "boy"?

Shakespeare's filled with action, adventure, romance.

Where did you come from?

I hail from Stratford-upon-Avon.

You look like the Stratford-upon-Avon lady.

First you mock these words. Now you mock my attire.

And who might you be, sir?

William Shakespeare, the author of your pillow.

You've drooled on Hamlet.

Wait. You can't be William Shakespeare. You're dead.

But my words live on.

I have been roused from my sleep.

Sleep that knits the raveled sleeve of care

to discuss your apathy towards poetry.

I just think it's boring.

What exactly do you find boring about Romeo and Juliet?

Can I be truthful?

Truth has a quiet breast.

Take your boy Romeo. Real people don't act like that.

Romeo is a wimp.

- Wimp? - He's weak, man.

You made Romeo beg.

Ten pages of the balcony scene he was crawling on his knees,

whimpering and crying. He probably got runs in his little tights.

- All you had to do� may I? - By all means.

Cool.

Romeo's in the bushes. He's looking up at Juliet, right?

This is what he should say:

"Juliet, thee likes thou, and thou likes thee.

"Yes, I said yes, woman. Why don't me and you go down

"to the midnight parking lot at Bumpy's and get busy?"

It's simple. You can use that if you want.

Terribly kind of you.

Young man, you have no idea what poetry is.

Poetry is passion.

They got a lot of passion going on down at Bumpy's.

Have you seen that parking lot?

Poetry fills your dreams with substance.

It allows- demands that we not just survive but that we flourish.

There you go!

I study something that you can use in life,

electrical engineering.

I'm like the Shakespeare of calculus.

You flatter yourself.

I assume you've heard of Leonardo da Vinci.

The artist that painted Mona Lisa. Yeah.

The artist who designed instruments, musical and surgical,

entire towns, domed churches.

Leonardo was also a noted theoretical mathematician

And an engineer.

Get out of here.

And, Dwayne, Leonardo loved poetry.

The power of the pen.

Find something you feel passionate about

and let your pen give it a voice.

Ah. Not again.

I'm getting out of here.

- Ernest. - Hi, Freddie.

- Hi, you look nice. - Thank you.

I wanted to tell you you look very nice.

I wore this sweater for you.

Ernest, I had a date last night.

Oh. Did you have fun?

Yeah, and I wanted to tell you that I feel�

I feel�

- Livingston! - Brooksy.

Dolores! Perfect timing.

Does everyone know each other?

Yeah, well, we're off.

That's a nice sweater, man.

- You were saying? - What?

- Let's go. - Are you wearing shoes?

Shoes? My favorite footwear.

- Hi, Kim. - Don't even look at him.

Whitley.

- Do me a favor. - Dwayne.

- It is too late for me to write your poem. - No, just read my poem.

- Tell me if you get it. - I'm surprised it fills a whole page.

Okay. Just read it and tell me if you get it.

"'My First Love,' by Dwayne Cleophus Wayne."

- Ooh. - My uncle on my mother's side.

Ah.

"She's always been a challenge to me from my very first hello.

"I pursued this woman of mystery,

"determined she would not be a puzzle to me."

- Dwayne. - Keep reading.

"I soon found comfort in her complexity.

"I look into her dark and smoky eyes admiring her angles and curves.

"Her elliptical lips�"

- I can't read any more of this. - Is it that bad?

- It's beautiful. - You get it?

Uh-huh.

- I'll talk to you after class. - Thank you.

Kim, Dwayne Wayne wrote me a love poem.

- He said I had elliptical lips. - Oh, Lord.

Good morning, class.

You still having hair on your heads means you didn't pull it out writing poems.

Around the second verse, all my chest hairs fell out.

Before we start, I'd like to share a poem with you.

I wrote it when I was a freshman in college.

I called it, "After The Hurricane."

"A tree stands."

"F."

I just wanted to show you that

nothing you could write could be as pitiful as this.

Don't worry, bro. Your poem is twice as long.

Shut up, man.

So who wants to go first?

Dwayne Wayne has written a wonderful poem.

Dwayne.

Our first volunteer.

Unless anybody else wants to go first�

Oh, God!

- Thank you, Whitley. - Ah!

Well, okay.

"'My First Love,'" by Dwayne Cl� Wayne."

With feeling.

"She's always been a challenge to me from our very first hello.

"I pursued this woman of mystery

"determined she would not be a puzzle to me.

"I soon found comfort in her complexity.

"I look into her dark and smoky eyes

"admiring her angles and curves, her elliptical lips."

Elliptical lips. That's alliteration. It's wonderful work.

"She divides men from boys, adding and subtracting hearts

"until alone I stand, her heart in my hand.

"She is mine.

"It's all for X, my first love."

Bravo, bravo!

The poetic imagery just leaps off the page.

"Dividing men from boys."

I see this woman. I know her.

I know her.

Whitley, I see no woman at all. I see a concept.

Dwayne has discovered a love greater than that of the flesh.

Kobie, I know this is all very new to you

but in America, we don't write poems about concepts.

It's just not done. We write about love

and the beautiful women that add and subtract hearts.

- That's my personal favorite line. - You don't understand, Whitley.

The poem is about mathematics.

I think he's right.

No one's talking to you.

You can't write a love poem about mathematics.

Math is no one's first love.

It's mine.

- I thought it was Denise Huxtable. - Shut up.

Paul, please tell this man what his poem's about.

All of your interpretations are valid.

In a good poem, each of us sees what we want to see.

Whitley, you saw a woman, Kobie, you saw mathematics.

- Someone else could think- - It was too damn long.

The poem can be about many things.

It's about math.

In 200 years from now, it will have some other meaning entirely.

It will still be about math.

It will still be dumb.

Of course, it's about math.

But tell her it's about her.

The woman is fine!

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