Get Lit Minute

Sekou Sundiata | "Shout Out"

January 11, 2022 Get Lit - Words Ignite Season 3 Episode 28
Get Lit Minute
Sekou Sundiata | "Shout Out"
Show Notes

In this week's episode of the Get Lit Minute, your weekly poetry podcast, we spotlight the life and work of a highly esteemed performing poet, Sekou Sundiata. He wrote for print, performance, music and theater.  Source

This episode includes a reading of his poem,  "Shout Out", featured in our 2021 Get Lit Anthology.

"Shout Out"

Here’s to the best words

In the right place

At the perfect time to the human mind

Blown-up and refined.

To long conversations and the

Philosophical ramifications of a beautiful day.

To the twelve-steppers

At the thirteenth step

May they never forget

The first step.

To the increase, to the decrease

To the do, to the do

To the did to the did

To the do to the did

To the done done

To the lonely.

To the brokenhearted.

To the new, blue haiku.

Here’s to all or nothing at all.

Here’s to the sick, and the shut-in.

Here’s to the was you been to the is you in

To what’s deep and deep to what’s down and down

To the lost, and the blind, and the almost found.

To the crazy

The lazy

The bored

The ignored

The beginners

The sinners

The losers

The winners.

To the smooth

And the cool

And even to the fools.

Here’s to your ex-best-friend.

To the rule-benders and the repeat offenders.

To the lovers and the troublers

The engaging

The enraging

To the healers and the feelers

And the fixers and the tricksters

To a star falling from a dream.

To a dream, when you know what it means.

To the bottom

To the root

To the base, uh, boom!

To the drum

Here’s to the was you been to the is you in

To what’s deep and deep to what’s down and down

To the lost, and the blind, and the almost found.

Here’s to somebody within the sound of your voice this morning.

Here’s to somebody who can’t be within the sound of your voice tonight.

To a low-cholesterol pig sandwich smothered in swine without the pork.

To a light buzz in your head

And a soundtrack in your mind

Going on and on and on and on and on like a good time.

Here’s to promises that break by themselves

Here’s to the breaks with great promise.

To people who don’t wait in the car when you tell them to wait in the car.

Here’s to what you forgot and who you forgot.

Here’s to the unforgettable.

Here’s to the was you been to the is you in

To what’s deep and deep to what’s down and down

To the lost, and the blind, and the almost found.

Here’s to the hip-hoppers

The don’t stoppers

Heads nodding in the digital glow

Of their beloved studios.

To the incredible indelible impressions made by the gaze as you gaze in the faces of strangers.

To yourself you ask: Could this be God? Straight up!

Or is it a mask?

Here’s to the tribe of the hyper-cyber

Trippin’ at the virtual-most outpost at the edge on the tip

Believin’ that what they hear is the mothership

Drawing near.

Here’s to the was you been, to the is you in

To what’s deep and deep, to what’s down and down

To the lost, and the blind, and the almost found.

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