Verbal Graffiti
Tonight is a celebration of life.
Tonight is a celebration of the words we live, breath, and write.
Tonight is a celebration of spoken word poetry.
Tonight is a celebration of verbal graffiti.
We speak the music of everyday life
The beat of the heart
The tempo of work
The rhythm of love
The voice of hope
We ascribe words to emotions
And proclaim the power of thought
We scribble funny stories
Or write about collected memories or forgotten histories
And turn life’s chaos into beautiful spoken word symphonies
We can be on that serious tip, like:
But other times my lips scream a song,
That my heart long forgot
And as I try to hum along to a long lost song
My tongue covers centuries of muted oppression
And I find purpose for this piece
See no matter what the topic
I always sing this song,
For my ancestors long gone
For the ones who help on strong
For the ones who slavery and colonization did wrong
I sing this song for my family
The ones who love and support me
The ones who moved here for me
I sing this song for my friends
The ones who and are here now and till the ends
See poets, we be the word selecta’s
We be the everyday life collectors
See sometimes we are that creative revolutionary spark
Sometimes we are that thing you just thought
Sometimes we are that childhood memory
Sometimes we are that sacred love story
I whisper so loud you can feel it!
Yet some people say this poetry we speak ain’t got no relevance
You say you still don’t identify
Even if you feel it, you probably sit there, dis and deny
But thats alright cos-
I spray verbal graffiti all over the walls of your mind
I write for everyone
I spray for you
I spray for me
I spray poetry
The world is my mural
I write for the uptowns
I write for the downtowns
I write for Gardena, my hood
I write for that Beverly Hills 90210 kinda neighborhood
I spray for the punk rocks
I spray for the hip-hops
I spray for the dreadlocks
I spray for the haves, but mainly the have-nots
I write for my sisters, and I write for my brothers
Whether they family or not
I write what I know,
So myself and others can grow
I write what I see,
Whether it be success or poverty
I write cos everyday we struggle
Everyday we succeed
Everyday we fail
Everyday we rise
Everyday we fall
I write cos there’s a war
I write cos we ain’t gonna take it no more
No matter what we gotta keep on keepin’ on
We gotta keep on movin’ on
We gotta keep on dreamin’ on
We gotta keep on teachin’ on
We gotta keep on livin’ on
And I promise to keep on sprayin’ on
Tonight I write to celebrate life
Tonight we spray verbal graffiti to celebrate life

Yes, this is from that magnetic poetry in a box thing, but so what.
Did you search and find it this time?
Fighting the moment
I say grow, live, listen, think, compare
Understand
Always positive
So find it
the
Light
the
Sound
the
Music
Find it
* Life
*Soul
*Culture
*Art
*Politics
And let your world know my world.
And I'll let my world know yours.

ONE
It’s not that one I’m worried about
Yeah I believe in that one love, one life, one people, one world, one mic, kind of life
All those one’s don’t got me worried
See I’m worried bout that other 9 outta 10
That won’t feel this
Or won’t see this
Or won’t hear this
Or won’t live this
They won’t hear the word drop
They’re only worried about that rise to the top
It’s that other 9/10 that’ll ask what are you?
Instead of who are you?
It’s that other 9/10 that’ll say “damn your hood is ghetto”
Instead of trying to get to know you
It’s that other 9/10 that try to keep you down
Instead of helping us achieve that crown
It’s that other 9/10 that discriminate because of the colored cover of this book
Instead of giving you a friendly look
It’s that other 9/10 that’s plotting your demise
Instead of helping us organize
It’s that other 9/10 that follow the MTV/BET wanna-be bougie’s
Instead of working on being free
It’s that other 9/10 that use schools to dictate the laws of the state
Instead of trying to really educate
We got 9 vs. 1
So theres a lot of work to be done
Cos to me that nine-tenths don’t make any sense
But we are that one
You one
I’m one
Until we’ve won/one together
One love
One sister
One brother
One movement together
You feel that
You feel this ONE