In this week's episode of the Get Lit Minute, your weekly poetry podcast, we spotlight the life and work of poet and spoken-word artist, Saul Williams. He has been breaking ground since his debut album, Amethyst Rock Star, was released in 2001 and executive produced by Rick Rubin. Most recently, Williams’ released his latest music works entitled, Encrypted & Vulnerable (July 2019), which acts as the score to his forth-coming directorial debut musical, Neptune Frost. Source
This episode includes a reading of his poem, "Indigo On", featured in our 2021 Get Lit Anthology.
"Indigo On"
…and you don’t stop
and you don’t stop
and you don’t…
stop letting cities define you
confine you to that which is cement and brick
we are not a hard peoples
our domes have been crowned
with the likes of steeples
that which is our being soars with the eagles
and the Jonathan Livingston Seagulls
yes, I got wings
you got wings
alas God chillun got wings.
So lets widen the circumference of our nest
And escape this urban incubator
The wind plays the world like an instrument
Blows through trees like flutes
But trees don’t grow in cement
And as heart beats bring percussion
Fallen trees bring repercussions
Cities play upon our souls like broken drums
We drum the essence of creation from city slums
But city slums mute our drums
And our drums become hum drum
‘cause city slums
have never been where our drums are from
just the place where our daughters and sons
become offbeat heartbeats
slaves to city streets
where hearts get broken
when heart beats stop
broken heartbeats become breakbeats
for niggas to rhyme on top
but they rhyme about nothing
they don’t have nothing to rhyme about
‘cause they’ve never seen the moon
your styles can’t be universal
if your not intoned with the wind.