![Oscar McLollie and The Honeyjumpers - Dig That Crazy Santa Claus [Modern 943] 1954](/data/xfmg/thumbnail/5/5103-1ceb0ba9360153ba22206cb84d3d838b.jpg?1561828652)
Tell me why it is Americans don’t read poetry?
Perhaps because it has lost its relevancy in a society
Where Brittany Spears and Backstreet Boys rule
Pepsi pop culture
Osborne family dysfunctionalism
& Fabricated reality TV shows
Are broadcasted into minds across the country
Prime time
Where sitcoms bomb our senses
Rendered defenseless against the TV signals
Jamming our thought processes
Sitting and staring into space
30 seconds of wasted breath
30 seconds of conscious death
Blinks between commercial breaks
The shows are just the filler between advertisements for Ford and Miller
Unconsciously you create another bill
Blindly buying into the subliminal message
To spend more money you don’t have
Charge it to Visa, Mastercard or American Express
Since it buys you access to everywhere you want to be
Except for reality
Denial is so affordable
Convenient options like leasing your soul to be owned by others
So you can’t possibly be responsible for yourself
Ignorance is the ultimate insurance plan
Guaranteed bliss in a world of broken hearts and dreams
Just turn up the radio to drown out the sirens and screams
With lyrics that boast of busting gats and loose semen
Into young wombs of little girls aborting womanhood
& Consuming young minds with ghetto dreaming
Hip hop you used to be the poetry of the street
But offers nothing more than phat beats
To make our ***** clap, empty headz nod, and Air Force Ones stomp
On dance floors while the world keep spinning
The people keep sinning
Meanwhile books collect dust on libraries shelves
Never disturbed while your mental slumbers
Tucked into a comfortable coffin of unconsciousness
Why?
Because the people no longer read poetry!
No one gives a **** about poetry anymore but poets
We are the only ones packing out cafes & lining up at open mics
We’ve even managed to make the art of spoken word seem cartoonish
With our over inflated egos, measured breathes, predictable meters, and redundant narratives
Of hatred, bitterness, and ignorance
We plead to be understood and weep for pity on the mic
Trying to convince others to buy into our rants of super-righteous indignation &
Conscious hype
No!
Pity the people that have to be subjected to this ********
The people don’t read poetry
Because they don’t respect poets!
We abuse The Muse & misrepresent The Art
We fail to inspire words to create change
We fail to inspire because we won’t change
We won’t change because we cannot create
Words with enough meaning to produce power
We cannot move & mobilize masses
When we cannot even move our ***** to change our own situations
We can’t face ourselves while we point the accusing finger at everyone else
Don’t blame your disappointments on the world or audience
Look in the mirror and realize you are the root of the problem
When you can finally admit that you are full of ****
Then you will begin to be free
Cuz the face in the mirror is your only enemy
You must respect & pursue the craft with passion
Speak with depth and authority
Earn the right to write
& use words wisely
Only then can we begin to heal the world through the art of spoken word
Perhaps because it has lost its relevancy in a society
Where Brittany Spears and Backstreet Boys rule
Pepsi pop culture
Osborne family dysfunctionalism
& Fabricated reality TV shows
Are broadcasted into minds across the country
Prime time
Where sitcoms bomb our senses
Rendered defenseless against the TV signals
Jamming our thought processes
Sitting and staring into space
30 seconds of wasted breath
30 seconds of conscious death
Blinks between commercial breaks
The shows are just the filler between advertisements for Ford and Miller
Unconsciously you create another bill
Blindly buying into the subliminal message
To spend more money you don’t have
Charge it to Visa, Mastercard or American Express
Since it buys you access to everywhere you want to be
Except for reality
Denial is so affordable
Convenient options like leasing your soul to be owned by others
So you can’t possibly be responsible for yourself
Ignorance is the ultimate insurance plan
Guaranteed bliss in a world of broken hearts and dreams
Just turn up the radio to drown out the sirens and screams
With lyrics that boast of busting gats and loose semen
Into young wombs of little girls aborting womanhood
& Consuming young minds with ghetto dreaming
Hip hop you used to be the poetry of the street
But offers nothing more than phat beats
To make our ***** clap, empty headz nod, and Air Force Ones stomp
On dance floors while the world keep spinning
The people keep sinning
Meanwhile books collect dust on libraries shelves
Never disturbed while your mental slumbers
Tucked into a comfortable coffin of unconsciousness
Why?
Because the people no longer read poetry!
No one gives a **** about poetry anymore but poets
We are the only ones packing out cafes & lining up at open mics
We’ve even managed to make the art of spoken word seem cartoonish
With our over inflated egos, measured breathes, predictable meters, and redundant narratives
Of hatred, bitterness, and ignorance
We plead to be understood and weep for pity on the mic
Trying to convince others to buy into our rants of super-righteous indignation &
Conscious hype
No!
Pity the people that have to be subjected to this ********
The people don’t read poetry
Because they don’t respect poets!
We abuse The Muse & misrepresent The Art
We fail to inspire words to create change
We fail to inspire because we won’t change
We won’t change because we cannot create
Words with enough meaning to produce power
We cannot move & mobilize masses
When we cannot even move our ***** to change our own situations
We can’t face ourselves while we point the accusing finger at everyone else
Don’t blame your disappointments on the world or audience
Look in the mirror and realize you are the root of the problem
When you can finally admit that you are full of ****
Then you will begin to be free
Cuz the face in the mirror is your only enemy
You must respect & pursue the craft with passion
Speak with depth and authority
Earn the right to write
& use words wisely
Only then can we begin to heal the world through the art of spoken word
... please make yourself at home ... 