Punching the Air

While sketching in his notebook, a fight breaks out. Kadon is being beaten up “so hard and so fast” that Amal rushes to help (256). When officers run in to break up the fight, Amal is the first one to stop fighting. He remembers that the other time he fought was the night of his arrest, so he surrenders with his hands up to show his innocence. The prison goes into a lockdown. In the “Entombment III,” Amal reflects on how he and his friends went to the newly gentrified part of their neighborhood in East Hills “even though there / was this invisible line / that separated rich from poor” (260). When the fight between the Black kids and the white kids at the basketball court broke out, Amal felt frozen in place until he became “rage and revenge” and jumped in to the fight (261). “Saint Peter in Prison” describes Amal’s next encounter with Imani while he is in the library. She compliments his choice in books, which inspires him to try to behave and go to her next poetry class.

In “Art School II,” Amal returns to Imani’s poetry class and meets Dr. Kwesi Bennu, who tells his story about being wrongly incarcerated. In “Harmony,” the kids’ “voices bounce off the walls / and it almost sounds like a rap battle” as they all tell their truths about what happened to get them incarcerated (274). The class studies the 13th Amendment, which tells them that “if we’ve been / convicted of a crime / we’re slaves” (279). “Butterflies” talks about how Dr. Bennu has each kid write down a mistake they made. Amal writes:

I

threw

the

first

punch (283).

He has them throw their papers in a bin and read off someone else’s mistake to the group, which Imani writes on the board. Dr. Bennu then has the young men stand together to make an unbreakable human chain to show their strength as a group. 

In “Conversations with God IX,” Amal reveals that he stole markers from Imani while helping her clean up after class. At night, Amal begins drawing on the walls of his cell. He draws a butterfly and thinks of his school crush Zenobia, but then writes “I THREW THE FIRST PUNCH” (293). Amal thinks back to the night of the fight:

Somebody threw that word

around again

n*****

n*****

n*****

like it’s the fucking 1950s (294),

while running away when the cops came. Amal left his skateboard while running away and describes how the cops caught up to him with their guns drawn and pushed him to the ground to handcuff him. On the walls of his cell, he writes “IT WAS JUST A FUCKING FIGHT” in giant letters (296). The next day, Amal gets in trouble for writing and drawing on his cell walls. He is put into solitary confinement. In “Surrealism,” Amal envisions being visited by his father while in solitary confinement. His father tells him that he wishes he could have told him more about the world but that he “didn’t / know / where to even start—” before he disappears (313).

“Brotherhood III” shows Amal’s first letter from his best friend Lucas, who was forbidden by his mother to support or contact Amal. Lucas tells him not to stop writing poetry and making art and that Amal will be famous when he gets out of prison. Amal also finds out Lucas had encouraged Zenobia to write to him because she kept asking about him. As Amal gets ready to write Lucas back, he sees his friend Kadon for the first time since he was beaten up in the mess hall. Kadon looks “as if they forced all the life / out of him,” and is walking by handcuffed with the officer that has a tattoo of a Black baby with a rope around its neck (321). Amal bangs on the door to try to get Kadon’s attention and sees how badly he was beaten up. Amal feels “like [he] lost him / and [he] won’t be able to find him anymore” (326). 

In “Conversations with God X,” Amal talks with Ms. Buford, the superintendent of the juvenile detention center. She tells him to worry about himself. She is uninterested in answering Amal’s questions about Kadon and Dr. Bennu, so Amal walks out of her office. Amal needs to behave well to go to poetry class on Tuesday. He draws Zenobia in his notebook to calm himself. In “Art School III,” Amal starts to write a letter to Zenobia while in Ms. Imani’s poetry class. Ms. Imani catches him off guard and asks him to share what he’s writing, which causes the class to laugh and lets them witness “a sliver of light / shine through / in each other” (338). However, Amal gets upset when Ms. Imani reveals that it is her last class with them. “Art School IV” describes the conversation Amal has with Ms. Imani as he helps her pack up after class ends. She gives Amal cans of paint to paint over the childish mural in the visitor center and tells Amal to “Paint your truth” (348). 

With the paints from Ms. Imani and the approval of Ms. Buford, Amal begins to prepare the mural. He draws his friends, Ms. Imani, and Dr. Bennu with wings as they fly above

a remix of [his]

favorite painting

Guernica, by Pablo Picasso

with its distorted faces and bodies

in war in war in war (353).

“Brotherhood VII” tells of Amal painting the mural with his friends for an entire week. Kadon calls him a “Young Basquiat,” and everyone is happy taking pictures in front of the mural with their families on visiting day (358). However, Umi does not show up on visiting day. She calls Amal and tells him that Jeremy Mathis woke up from his coma and that she is with Jeremy Mathis to make sure the truth is recorded when he speaks, because “his words are the key / that will unlock the door / to your freedom” (361). The next day, however, the mural,

with its sharp angles and straight lines

turned into black curved and rounded lines

turned into

black curved and rounded

wings and faces

is painted over

in white

in white

in white (366).

This upsets Amal, especially because his mom never got to see the mural.

In “Father Figure,” Uncle Rashon finally visits Amal in jail. He gives Amal a stack of books by impactful Black writers to read and discuss with him when he returns again. “Hope IV” describes the phone call Amal has with Umi about how she fired his lawyer Clyde and hired a new attorney, Tarana Hudson, who is Black. Ms. Hudson talks with Amal and says, “it’s an honor / to work with you and / your family.” Hudson also tells him that “Jeremy Mathis / is ready to talk—” (377). When walking back from the mess hall, Amal sees Officer Stanford walk out of his cell and discovers that he left paper and a watercolor set for him. The novel ends with Amal painting versions of famous paintings to send to Imani. He labels the art “my truth” (386).