BRUCE WRIGHT

also known as Bruce Wright “cutting-loose,” was a judge who served on the New York State Supreme Court and fought all his life for prisoners, waiting for their trial, to get them out. He was very loved in his community, Harlem. All the ways on his bicycle I remember how much people wanted to talk to him.

June 24, 1991

Dear Martine,

Here are the suggested titles for your quite unique and poignant book of images and insights:

In Other’s Pain - Kings of Pain - The Pleasures of Pain - Pain and Pleasure - Memories of the Future - Other’s Blood - The Gift of Pain - Another’s Pain - Survivors - Inherit the Earth - Sad Songs - Triumph and Imagination - Ghetto Dreams - Deliver Us From Poverty - The Riches of the Poor - Also Known As - Man as Brute - The Pain of Success - Myth and Emotion

I have looked at both poetry and prose to cull what I think might be an appropriately dramatic title for a work that possesses drama, melancholy, aching joy, and the kind of hope that makes of macho emotions a kind of turbo-driven ambition. Francis Thompson, Swinburne, Thomas Gray and William Cowper, were all consulted. Since dreams are poetic demons, I thought it best to look at some of the poets and their discussions and mentions of pain. For me, a pacifist, it seems that boxing, struggle and fights (both physical and emotional conflicts) symbolize pain. Whereas physical pain can often be ignored after the first onslaught of its attack, the emotional pain of frustration and defeat, remains a constant, and indelible scar of the spirit. I wish I could have done better for you.

Love and good luck,

Bruce

For dedication of his book, Black Bores White Justice.

For dedication of his book: Black Bores White Justice.