Spoken Words of Spoken Truth

They sit silent without movement.

Silenced by the drudgery of discontent,

They remain mute to me.

My muses have conspired in mutiny.

My muses have conspired in anarchy.

My muses have conspired against me.

They offer no words to me.

They offer no words through me.

No phrases or verbs emerge in any epiphany.

They once fed me with ease.

They once came on days like these.

No longer do they share sweet serenity with me.

Alas, I remain empty where I once was complete and whole.

Spoken word is a style of poetry that speaks to he soul and spirit of the people. It is the type of poetry that stirs people with intensity. Revolutions were given birth by the words of poets who penned their frustrations in self-expressed eloquence. Racist supremacy was shaken to its knees by the words of Gil Scott-Heron and the Last Poets. Anarchy mixed with artistry as Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel and the Furious Five unleashed "The Message."

Listen the poetry that emerges from the streets and hotsposts. Let the words sink in to your very soul. Spend some moments contemplating the words of poets and rap artists, even folk singers and blues howlers. Let the stirrings of Issac Hayes, Otis Redding, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin settle upon your heart. Listen intently as James Brown, George Clinton and Rick James fill your ears with the stories of the streets and the ghetto.

When we speak the truth, the truth gives life to other endeavors.

The media frenzy that we know of today has us questioning the artistic and creative voices of today. Is Kanye West any less of a poetic force than John Lennon or Paul McCartney? Is Jay-Z or Mos Def no more powerful poetically than Jewel or Morrissey? Can we see the similarities in Johnny Lee Hooker's words and those of Bob Dylan or Bruce Springsteen? Heaven help us hear the poetic entreats of King David in the Book of Psalms as much as we hear the poetic lines of Shakespeare in "Hamlet" and "Othello."

Do not let this age pass by without reading the prose of Dickens, Hugo and Twain, seeing the social commentary buried within every carefully-crafted word. Read every one of the essays of Aristotle, Plato, Gandhi, Thoreau and Malcolm X. Spend some time studying the various voices that cried out for freedom like those of Bob Marley, David Walker, Claude McKay, and many others.