JUDY WOODRUFF: Kara Jackson
is known for being the 2019
national youth poet laureate

from Oak Park, Illinois, but her art is
not limited to one medium or one place.

She writes poems, but also essays and
music, that explore her Southern roots

and how the legacy of racism continues
to impact her and her communities.

Tonight, she shares her Brief But
Spectacular take on what shapes her art.

KARA JACKSON,
Singer/Songwriter/Musician/Writer:
When I was a teenager,
making work and having

the audacity to call myself a poet
or call myself an artist in any way,

that troubled people. When I saw older
people trying to gatekeep or try to

humble me or whatever, I just
kind of saw that as an invitation.

Gwendolyn Brooks is one of the integral
poets who inspired me to write poetry.

Gwendolyn Brooks is a champion of
writing what's under your nose.

And so that is the kind of
ethic and the kind of practice
that I apply in my own work.

I think the South is just
important to my work because that's
where I'm from. Like, I can't

really explain myself without
explaining my dad. My dad was born
and raised in Dawson, Georgia.

It's my favorite place on this earth. It's
about the size of like any given pebble.

I think that Dawson, Georgia
really represents the ways in
which culture usually happens in

like the smallest corners of
our country and like of this
Earth. And it frightens me and

troubles me the ways in which
we, as a country, feels so
comfortable discarding that space.

I mean, Black people are there,
and that's why it's so important
to me that people understand

that the South isn't disposable,
because my people aren't disposable.
That speaks to a larger aspect

of lineage in my work. I can't
really do anything without thinking
about where I am in this place

and how also I wouldn't be
where I am in this place without
the people who came before me.

So, I'm constantly thinking
about the ways in which I honor

my lineages, but also the ways in
which I deviate from those lineages.

I think that every Black person, every
Black artist should be given the space

to talk about whatever they want,
and to articulate themselves
in a way that feels natural.

(SINGING)

KARA JACKSON:

My name is Kara Jackson, and this
is my Brief But Spectacular take
on writing what's under my nose.

JUDY WOODRUFF: And we
thank you, Kara Jackson.

And you can watch all our Brief
But Spectacular videos online
at PBS.org/NewsHour/Brief.