"But sometimes we do..."

photo via Get Lit

I was introduced to Get Lit last October at One: Women and Girls when the poet, Marquesha Babers, recited her poem, Senna, blowing the entire room away with her words and the power in which they were delivered. 

I wrote about the experience and then, a few months later, was copied on another Get Lit masterpiece, "In America" by Belissa Escobedo, Rhiannon McGavin, and Zariya Allen, which immediately (and with good reason) went viral. The following video is from a few months back when the girls performed with John Legend at The Hollywood Bowl.

It is incredible. Please watch and if you've already seen it, please watch again: 

I spent some time watching the poets on the Get Lit page and was struck equally by the power of this piece, performed by Kyland Turner, Brian Martinez, and Walter Finnie at The Kennedy Center in November.

This is what stepping up looks like. This is what speaking out looks like. This is what opening doors that have been closed and closed and closed... looks like, sounds like, feels like... 

. 

Poetry saved my life as a teenager,  and I believe wholeheartedly that the study and performance of poetry should be mandatory for ALL teenagers. It is the only place where young people can break all rules with their voices and their pens and their words. Where they can tear down the very walls they have been ordered to build in their various institutions. Poetry has and will always be punk rock -- and when I go into the classes of my kids and former teachers to talk poetry with young people, that is always what we discuss.

There are no rules, here. Now take your pen to the paper and write your own. 

I believe with my whole heart in the power of the spoken word, in teenagers being our societal truth-tellers, unabashed and unafraid and willing to GO THERE.

IN YOUR FACE, ADULTS WHO ARE AFRAID TO SPEAK UP. WE HAVE NOTHING TO LOSE WHEN WE SPEAK UP AND EVERYTHING TO LOSE IF WE SAY NOTHING. 

The fact that Get Lit LA exists for LA youth (and beyond) gives me extraordinary hope for the future... for storytellers and truth spitters and young people whose voices so often get muted by the mob of patronization. Poetry is power. Teen voices are power.

So thank you, Get Lit. Thank you, Belissa, Rhiannon and Zariya. Thank you, Marquesha. Thank you, Kyland, Brian, and Walter. Keep on.

And for those of you who want to get involved/support Get Lit, go here.

And for the teachers in the house, go here to see how you can incorporate Get Lit into your classroom curriculum. Watch this, too:

"Sometimes people don't really have anything important to say. But sometimes we do."

To the sometimes. To elevating ALL young people's sometimes.

GGC