My Eternal High

Poetry is my addiction! Fresh from the womb of my mother, I was injected with the life of peotry. The "liquidated geniuses of God," rushed through my veins and gave me an eternal high. As time passed, the drug began to attack my mind and forced me to regurgitate words in forms that I never knew I could do. I was never "introduced" to poetry, it was planted within me before I had any recognition of it. English teachers in school helped reveal the hidden talent within me through poetry contests. When I would win, that motivatd me to continue pouring out my expressions of life for diferent eyes to read.

I embarked upon different styles of this creative art, one in which interested me alot, known as Def poetry. Def poetry was a show that premiered on HBO and broadcasted well-known and upcoming poets. This was the first successful poetry series, and it enhanced my passion for poetry and challenged me to want to be as good as many of the poets that were on the show. Although, this show made spoken word more popular, and even made it to Broadway, with success came controversy, as several questioned if certain poems should actually be considered poetry.

This week, the poet that I could really relate to when it came to describing how poetry became part of my life was Gemineye and his poem "Poetic Bloodlines." A talented man, whose poetic theme was to describe how God came into his dreams and began to inject him with the "liquidated literary geniuses" of different famous writers such as Langston Hughes, Emily Dickinson, John Keats, Maya Angelou, W.E.B Dubois, Robert Frost, Paul Orange Dunbar, Edgar Allen Poe, and many more.

Many viewers of this piece on Youtube, described it as "amazing," "absolutely brilliant," or informal terms such as"dope." I must say that I totally agree with all of the comments. My favorite part in the poem is when "God" is pretty much speaking to him as Gemineye states,

"He said “I use you as my tool and plow the field with you
Fulfilling empty minds’ needs while planting knowledge seeds
No longer will there be a flourishing time for malnourishing minds
I want you to make intelligence a law cuz ignorance is a crime
Now I need you to go and reap what you sow
While captivating minds like Edgar Allen Poe
I gave you the wings so now fly like the raven
This world needs savingFeel free to fight off your fears
Cuz they’ll disappear within this injection
Of my tears which contains the remains of great things gone
And new things to come beyond the next dawn
You’re the next in a bloodline of greats
You are a poet..."

Gemineye's delivery was amazing, as he educated the audience with names of famous writers that may be unknown to certain people, he still kept everyone entertained. Gemineye uses these names as the foundation of his poem to let it be known that the people listed are some of the few great writers that made poetry what it is, and they were the stepping stone to get him to where he is at now. So for the many people that believed Def poetry is not "poetry," I'm sure our past Poet Laureate, Robert Pinsky, would disagree. In his book, "Sounds of Poetry," Pinsky speaks about writers such as Emily Dickinson also, and if Gemineye's work of art derives from the same people that built on the foundation of poetry, then I believe the poetic bloodlines does not end with Def poetry, but continues to live and spread a different style of art because of it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPz9lL0y8sE