raise your hand if you called this a
coke crazy hand if we called this a soda
who calls this pop or soda pop who calls
this a soft drink
whatever you call it I reckon you could
say you definitely speak American I'm a
poet an English teacher from the Rio
dinah Valley of Deep South Texas about
ten minutes from the Mexican border
we never verbalized it but in order to
survive as a children of immigrants from
Mexico my siblings and I had to sort of
teach ourselves how to be American and
to truly be American society made us
feel that we had to learn to speak
American but the truth is that America
has more than one voice so learning to
talk like an American is not an easy
task we learn English from our teachers
and classmates but mostly we learn
English from Saturday morning cartoons
from Sesame Street and even Eddie Murphy
and what's up dr. may one cookie I got
some ice cream I got some ice cream you
can't afford it wanna lick psych when I
enlisted in the Navy I recognized
discovered I had a little bit of a Texas
accent the Navy took me to duty stations
all across the country in San Diego
people were like totally chill dude when
I lived in Philadelphia I soaked up
Philly like a sponge
hey how yous guys don't forget about it
over here my Navy friend from Brooklyn
always greeted us with his Jamaican a
Mon whopping money when I studied at LSU
and visited nollans I learned to order
red beans and rice and bunny A's at the
Cajun cafes my ancestry includes the
blood of Sephardic Jews who fled Spain
and emigrated to Mexico to avoid
persecution so when I heard comedian
Jackie Mason talking about his relatives
asking him to him to tone down his
Jewish accent in order to fit in I
totally understood that but don't you
talk like this
talk like me talk like a tackle of
poison but I realize now that we're all
regular persons speaking in an American
in the way that we were brought up
I was brought up reading the Bible in
English in Spanish and listened to
mariachi songs so I guess you could say
my first language is poetry when I write
my poetry I often make people laugh
because humour has a power to heal and
laughter is contagious sometimes I write
as a form of social criticism as a
necessary response to prejudiced
attitudes to language and skin color but
mostly my poetry is a celebration of
language my writing is an invitation to
celebrate the unique and diverse voices
of our American vernacular as a spoken
word poet I mimic other people's voices
not as a form of ridicule but as a form
of empowerment speaking in other
people's voices allows us to empathize
and understand one another we say to
people if you really want to get to know
me walk a mile in my shoes walk with me
talk with me share a meal share a song
you see breaking bread helps us break
barriers and singing together allows our
souls to recognize that we are all
singing one human song the late poet
Maya Angelou reminded us in her poem
human family that we are more like my
friends than we are
unalike that we are more alike my
friends than we are
unalike so I invite my readers to read
my poetry out loud to mimic my voice and
is so doing to mimic my voice and in so
doing to talk a mile in my shoes the
Mockingbird scientific name is mimosa
Polly glottis mimicker of many voices
the mockingbird has over 200 songs in
its repertoire like the mockingbird the
United States of America has over 350
languages according to US Census Bureau
as of 2015 350 languages are spoken in
the US and that is what makes America
great you know what I'm saying
the spoken word is not like a password
that you type it's kind of well a little
more like height you know what I'm
saying
it's like something that you heard
walking down the street it's like
something people say is it pass along
the way it's like the way people talk
and stuff like it's part of their walk
it's who they are it's what makes them
tick like those people who talk with
their pens as they click and click and
click and it really makes me sick you
can't concentrate like that and you
really can't attract as many flies not
like you can with words that flow sweet
like honey it's just annoying as heck
like when people cut the deck too many
times during game a poker can I get an
amen I mean what the hell is that about
excuse my language lord I don't mean to
scream and shout if you really have a
doubt about the dealer kick him out
don't sit around pouting everybody wait
making everybody late the best part of a
game of poker ain't about finding the
Joker it's about finding the joke as you
sit around poke fun at each one of your
friends because a conversation lends
itself to laughter and to cheer and
perhaps you'll share a beer if you're
over 21 or a smoke it don't matter if
you're broke you belong and you're able
to share about the things that you care
about and think it's a chain and you're
a link so you have another drink and you
toast and summon like to boast about the
curd it had when they thought that they
was bad and they went up to a pretty
girl across the room and they made her
start to swoon just with words using
some old tired line like so baby we're
looking fine I just thought I'd you know
take a little time to drop a little
rhyme maybe ask you out to dine drink a
little wine girl just let yourself
online you know I got leather seats I
wear size 13 cleats and uh you know what
they say about a guy who's got big feet
[Applause]
spoken word is about passion and
silliness some truth it's about getting
to the root of what's inside it's about
showing all the things you hide out loud
to a pretty girl across the room to a
priest or to a crowd it's about saying
what you feel and not letting people
steal your thunder it's about saying it
first and saying it proud it don't
matter if you blunder spoken word is um
what ever it's this Internet's taking
forever
is yo this is a taco and burrito
conversation nachos
it's dude sweet is damn that girl's eye
and oh girl that boy is tight it's a
street jive it's a cool vibe it's a
Saturday Night Live and where were you
when you heard that famous spoken word
in an apparent terrorist attack on our
country on that day in September and
December 7 1941 a date which will live
in infamy
is another will remember and Down Goes
Frazier Down Goes Frazier from an
uppercut it's frankly my dear I don't
give a damn to miss who's he what that's
one small step for man by an astronaut
and the president was killed today in
Dallas by a gunshot and I have a dream
by Martin Luther King in Alabama or in
Washington at an Alabama Alabama church
stop preaching to the masses not for now
it's Moses with the stones out on that
mountaintop you see it was a spoken word
that Moses heard in the burning bush
that made him push the Pharaoh in the
gentry for freedom elementary that
brought the plagues that freed the
slaves at wandered days to desert ways
and the Good Book says well I don't want
to step on toes and y'all know how the
story goes and that to me is spoken word
you know what I'm set
[Applause]
what my siblings and I didn't know his
kids he's that every time we spoke in
English in Spanish in tex-mex we were
speaking like Americans when our society
is encouraged to mimic other people's
voices will be empowered with the
knowledge that we are more alike my
friends than we are
unlike thank you