Last year – and a time before that – I posted “Ohm” during my National Poetry Month celebration. And there will come a day – probably – that I will again post the Saul Williams poem. Today, of course, is not the day.
This year I chose to include Saul Williams in my National Poetry Month celebration. Because, like Andrea Gibson, his words resonates loudly in the world I live.
For the tenth poem, I present to you “Said the Shotgun to the Head.” Please enjoy.
“Explaining My Depression to My Mother” by Sabrina Benaim
“Ohm” by Saul Williams
“Why are Muslims So…” by Sakila & Hawa
“14 Lines from Love Letters or Suicide Notes” by Doc Luben
“Some Things You Need to Know Before Dating Me” by Jamie Mortara
“What Society Says to Men” by Helly Shah
“AmeRícan” by Tato Laviera
“Through the Fence…” by Edward Vidaurre
“America” by Allen Ginsberg
“The Good Life” by Tracy K. Smith
“When a Boy Tells You He Loves You” by Edwin Bodeny
“OCD” by Neil Hilborn
“Peach Scone” by Hobo Johnson & the LoveMakers
“I Will Not Let an Exam Result Decide my Fate” by Suli Breaks
“Consent at 10,000 Feet” by Guante
“Can We Auto-Correct Humanity?” by Prince Ea
“To This Day” by Shane Koyczan
“34 Excuses for Why We Failed at Love” by Warsan Shire
“Storm” by Tim Minchin
“Chingona” by Leticia
“Afro-Latina” by Elizabeth Acevedo
“Juan Valdez” by Carlos Andres Gomez
“Dear Straight People” by Denice Frohman
“Poema XV”/ “I Like for You to be Still” by Pablo Neruda
“McAllen Our Rinconcito” by Priscilla Celia Suarez
“Some Days” by Amalia Ortiz
“For the Quiet Kids Who’ve Been Told ‘Speak Up'” by Grace Carras
…
Your love: a mixed tape the car stereo ate; a sell-by-date, batteries not included, rough around the edges; scentless potpourri
from Chapin City Blues
I started to celebrate National Poetry Month. And I pre-selected each poem the day I made my decision to do this. However, April 29th and 30th were left unfilled. I didn’t know what to put in there. During this time, I discovered (for myself) the poetry of Grace Carras. So I had to give her one of the two slots.
This last piece took me years to write and hours to record and mix. And I hope that you enjoyed this journey as much as I.
My introduction to Saul Wiliams was through his 2007 album, The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of NiggyTardust! which had been produced by Trent Reznor. The first single, Tr(n)igger held lyrics that resonated – and still resonate – with the time: “You wanna blame them boys from Lebanon and cat like you don’t know where they get it from?/You wanna project all your problems and murder every hope to solve them?/Would Jesus Christ come back American? What if he’s Iraqi and here again?/You’d have to finally face your fears, my friend/Who’s gonna hold your hand when that happens?”
After devouring the album, I started digging for more. And found his poetry through the process. There’s a lot of poems that could be posted, but “Ohm” was the first I listened to, and, therefore my favorite.
I hope it’s as powerful to you as it was to a 24-year-old me. Enjoy.
I am no Earthling, I drink moonshine on Mars And mistake meteors for stars cause I can’t hold my liquor But I can hold my breath and ascend like wind to the black hole And play galaxaphones on the fire escapes of your soul Blowing tunes through lunar wombs, impregnating stars Giving birth to suns, that darken the skins that skin our drums And we be beating infinity over sacred hums Spinning funk like myrrh until Jesus comes