I found the Nuyorican Poets Cafe at the beginning of my life as a poet, way back in 1991 before Spoken Word became a sport. And so I gravitate towards pieces that are difficult. I look for work that snaps my synapses, that makes me stop what I'm doing. Which in its pure uncut form was created for the working class. Many truths to write for.
Poetry speaks when it is truth.
When it recognizes its own accent. Poetry has a foreign ear, a foreign tongue to conversation, to speaking. Poetry is swallowed by the ears on the surface of your tongue if your tongue is hungry for ears and speaking. If only I came from a foreign place. One far away from here.