1454: Katherine with the Lazy Eye. Short. And Not a Good Poet by francine j. harris

6 min

•Feb 11, 20262 months ago

Summary

This episode features poet Francine J. Harris reading "Catherine with the Lazy Eye. Short. And Not a Good Poet," a brutally honest poem about a marginalized woman in Detroit. Host Samia Bashir frames the work within themes of how society's external judgments reduce people to stereotypes, drawing parallels to athlete Wendy Hilliard's experience of racial bias in elite sports.

Insights

External judgments and stereotypes often reveal more about the observer than the observed, limiting our ability to see people's full humanity
Marginalized individuals—particularly women of color—face compounded barriers across multiple domains (sports, arts, service work) rooted in systemic bias
Vulnerability and visibility can be dangerous for those already socially vulnerable; kindness toward the 'other' is complicated by fear and social pressure
Poetry serves as a tool for naming and confronting uncomfortable truths about complicity, judgment, and the cost of social exclusion

Trends

Intersectional narratives in contemporary poetry addressing race, gender, disability, and class simultaneouslyPoetry as social commentary on systemic exclusion and the limits of meritocracyIncreased focus on how casual cruelty and social avoidance contribute to harm against vulnerable populationsLiterary exploration of regret and complicity in witnessing marginalization without intervention

Topics

Systemic racism in elite athleticsMeritocracy and its limitationsSocial exclusion and marginalizationGender and race intersectionalityPoetry as social critiqueDisability representation and perceptionClass and economic vulnerabilityComplicity and social responsibilityGrief and retrospective understandingWomen in sports

Companies

McDonald's

Referenced as the workplace setting where Catherine works; symbolizes economic precarity and service-sector labor in ...

People

Wendy Hilliard

Olympic rhythmic gymnast cited as example of racial bias in elite athletics; formally challenged discriminatory re-ra...

Francine J. Harris

Poet whose work 'Catherine with the Lazy Eye' is featured; explores themes of social exclusion and complicity

Quotes

"Sometimes the way that we see each other has nothing to do, per se, with who they are, but with who we are."

Samia Bashir•Opening remarks

"Catherine with the lazy eye, short and not a good poet. I guess I almost cried. I don't know why, because I didn't like you."

Francine J. Harris (poem)•Mid-poem

"Don't let them look at you like that, Catherine. Don't let them get you alone. You don't get to laugh like that, like nothing's gonna get you."

Francine J. Harris (poem)•Mid-poem

"None of us can be reduced to each other's outside gaze."

Samia Bashir•Opening remarks

Full Transcript

I'm Samia Bashir, and this is The Slowdown. In the 1980s, despite being the top-ranked rhythmic gymnast in the United States and among the world's best, Wendy Hilliard, one of my personal heroes, was sidelined in the early Olympic era of the sport through racially coded re-ranking, a decision she formally challenged and overturned, exposing the limits of meritocracy in elite athletics. Much like the powers that be who decided that a young, busty Black girl must not be allowed to represent the U.S., sometimes the way that we see each other has nothing to do, per se, with who they are, but with who we are. Sometimes we challenge each other just by being, because being is complicated. It's difficult. And none of us can be reduced to each other's outside gaze. Whether that's women in sports, and any kind of women, cis, trans, intersex, young, old, every kind of race, or in poetry, in food service, in search of intimacy, in a family, Thing is everyone is a hero to someone or a beauty or a problem or all of the above Today poem acknowledges exactly that with a brutal identifiable honesty But what this poet insists that we remember is how we are all also, even if not loved, then so, so very lovable. Catherine with the Lazy Eye, short and not a good poet, by Francine J. Harris. This morning, I heard you were found in your McDonald's uniform. I heard it while I was visiting a lake town where empty woodsy highways turn into waterside drives. I'd forgot my toothbrush and was brushing with my finger when a friend who didn't know you said he heard it like this. You know, Catherine, short, with a lazy eye, poet, not a very good one. Yeah, well, she died. The blue on that lake fogs off into the horizon like styrofoam. The picnic tables full of white people. I ask them where the coffee is. They say at Meyer. I wonder if you thought about getting out of Detroit. When you read at the open mic, you'd point across the street at McDonald's and told us to come see you. Catherine with the lazy eye, short and not a good poet. I guess I almost cried. I don't know why, because I didn't like you. This is the first time I remembered your name. I didn like how you followed around a married man that your poems sucked and that I figured they were all about the married man That sometimes you reminded me of myself boy crazy That sometimes I think people just don't tell me that I'm kind of, well, slow. Catherine with the lazy eye, short and not a good poet. I didn't like your lazy eye always looking at me. That you called me by my name. I didn't like you since the first time I saw you at McDonald's. You had a mop, and you were letting some homeless dude flirt with you. I wondered then if you thought that was the best you could do. I wondered then if it was. Catherine, with the lazy eye, short, and not a good poet, you were too silly to wind up dead in an abandoned building. I didn't like you because what was I supposed to tell you? What? Don't let them look at you like that, Catherine. Don't let them get you alone. You don't get to laugh like that, like nothing's gonna get you. Not everyone will forgive the slow girl. Catherine, with a fucked up eye, short, poetry sucked, must have knew better. I avoided you in the hallway. I avoided you in lunch line. Catherine, I avoided you in the lake. I avoided you. My lazy eye. Catherine with one hideous eye. Shit. Poetry for boys again. You should have been immune. You were supposed to be a cartoon. Your body was supposed to be as twisted as it was gonna get Short and not a good poet Catherine with no I no more I avoided you Hated it when you said my name. I really want to leave Detroit. Catherine, the lazy short, not a good poet, and shit. Somewhere, someone has already asked, what was she like? And a woman has brought out her wallet and said, this is her. This is my beautiful baby. us on Instagram at Slowdown Show and Blue Sky at Slowdown Show dot org. Maggie here, host of The Slowdown. Listening to and reading poetry helps us find our footing in an uncertain world, especially during challenging times. You can help keep these moments of poetry and reflection going by making a gift today. Visit slowdownshow.org slash donate.