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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\\u2019 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\\xa0
This episode includes a reading of his poem,\\xa0 "Indigo On", featured in our 2021 Get Lit Anthology.
"Indigo On"
\\u2026and you don\\u2019t stop
and you don\\u2019t stop
and you don\\u2019t\\u2026
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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.
\\xa0
So lets widen the circumference of our nest
And escape this urban incubator
\\xa0
The wind plays the world like an instrument
Blows through trees like flutes
But trees don\\u2019t grow in cement
And as heart beats bring percussion
Fallen trees bring repercussions
\\xa0
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
\\u2018cause 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
\\xa0
where hearts get broken
when heart beats stop
broken heartbeats become breakbeats
for niggas to rhyme on top
but they rhyme about nothing
\\xa0
they don\\u2019t have nothing to rhyme about
\\u2018cause they\\u2019ve never seen the moon
your styles can\\u2019t be universal
if your not intoned with the wind.
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