Photo Essay: My Punk Rock Youth 1987-1992

Looking through their eyes / it was hard for me to walk / walk / as I judged my walk / as stiff and “white” / and hated myself. / I saw myself / through their eyes / on the / Football field / Basketball court / Baseball diamond / Hell of high-school gym class / stumbling around / in ignorance of the rules / and fear of the hurtling spheres / and I judged myself / a useless faggot.

Words and Photography by Albert M Frank III

(Lubbock, Texas 1986)

I saw myself through their eyes

talking to white kids

and it appeared both

that I hated being black

and that I was better

than those black faces

watching me.

(Hanging with the outsiders. Lubbock 1987)

I saw myself in my

outdated boot-cut jeans

and leather jacket

as a nerd and

a freak.

Something beyond

explanation.

(The only other black south side punk I knew, Chicago 1988)

I saw my delicate face

and thin limbs

and heard my “proper” talk

and saw myself as

a victim waiting to happen.

(He wound up stealing all my girls)

I saw my thin frame

trying to remain invisible

as I walked the halls

between classes

only to wind up hunched

over a spiral binder

drawing comics, while

the teacher talked on about

Algebra.

(My parents tried to make me them)

Through their eyes

I saw myself walking

stiffly to the stage

in my graduation gown

to the deafening sound

of no applause.

(I tried to make friends with everyone in my dorm. Some were too different.)

And later, through other eyes I saw

my nappy hair and

full lips

set against

the sea of punk rockers

all white.

I saw myself trying to be

punker than them

to camouflage the blackness.

(Winter love, Chicago 1988)

Through their eyes

I saw a strange dreadlocked

black man in an elevator

maybe a rapist

or robber

probably ignorant.

For 40 years I missed

everything that was

right in front of me.

half my life sacrificed

to the beast with a million eyes.

(Proto Emo. Texas Tech 1986)

Tags: Black, Chicago, Essay, Photo, Punk, Rock, Texas, Youth

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Comment by Jaime Quinn on August 26, 2011 at 11:23am: lbk isnt all bad...

Comment by Albert Frankenstein on August 19, 2011 at 1:31am: Thank you all.

Comment by Jhonny Lee on August 19, 2011 at 1:14am: Brilliant man simply insightful.

Comment by Briana Monet Thomas-Walker on August 14, 2011 at 4:52pm: This is amazingly powerful.

Comment by Lloyd Lacy on August 14, 2011 at 2:51pm: Beautiful yet powerful.

Comment by Makini on August 10, 2011 at 8:38am: Essential Brother....Heavy in its' simplicity

Comment by Isaac Makings on August 9, 2011 at 6:22pm: Wow..umm I'm speechless...Love the writing, the photos..powerful!

Comment by Corinne Stevie on August 8, 2011 at 7:45pm: this is really fresh I enjoyed the writing paired up with the photos

Comment by Newsoul on August 6, 2011 at 7:10am: Love the posts and the your blog very interesting insights, I did the same thing in tampa and came up with the same conclusions about mankind race etc..