Bet You Didn’t Know: Secrets Behind The Making Of “Antwone Fisher”

Poetry

You may remember that there was a poem a grown up Fisher recited in the movie. It was actually written by the real Antwone. In case you don’t remember it, it went like this:

“Who will cry for the little boy, lost and all alone?

Who will cry for the little boy, abandoned without his own?

Who will cry for the little boy? He cried himself to sleep.

Who will cry for the little boy? He never had for keeps.

Who will cry for the little boy? He walked the burning sand.

Who will cry for the little boy? The boy inside the man.

Who will cry for the little boy? Who knows well hurt and pain.

Who will cry for the little boy? He died and died again.

Who will cry for the little boy? A good boy he tried to be.

Who will cry for the little boy, who cries inside of me?”

– Antwone Fisher, Who Will Cry For The Little Boy?

A few days after the movie was released into theaters, Fisher also published a book called “Who Will Cry For the Little Boy?” The title poem was the same one recited in the movie. Fisher said after attending a lecture from Maya Angelou, where she said poetry is a way to pull ourselves from our suffering. Fisher explained what poetry does for him as an outlet.

“… I find that writing poetry allows me to be whatever I want to be. Even when I had never been in love, I could write about what I hoped it would be once I found a love of my own. If I felt alone in the world, as I often did, I could write about how I had to be there for myself, because at the time the reality was that I was all I had. What poetry gives me is truth.”