#ltabma

Here's a clip of my slam team's group piece. It is so important for Asian-American voices to speak out. I am grateful to be part of a team that is driven by that idea and I am awestruck at how we spilled our hearts out on that stage so unapologetically.

Let’s talk about the word proud, for just a moment. When you look up the word proud in the dictionary, you get One; Feeling deep pleasure or satisfaction as a result of one’s own achievements, qualities, or possessions, or those of one with whom one is closely associated with, or, stated slightly less exigently, Two; Having or showing a high out excessively high opinion of oneself or one’s importance. Now let’s talk about the word community for just a moment. A group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common, a feeling of fellowship, resulting in the readjustment of attitudes, interests and goals. Let’s talk about poetry. Let’s talk about a gathering of the arts, let’s talk about strangers gathered together by tattered forevers, notice how we know eachother better than anyone we’ve ever met, let’s talk about energy. Let’s talk about the passion, let’s talk about dyin’ up on that stage and being reborn to take a look back to your brothers and see them as one, breathing and heart-beating poet, let’s talk about soul. Now, my opinion of myself has never exceeded a hairpin, and in this city of sin, this in-it-to-win-it neighborhood had given me a foremost approach to toast to my community. To toast to the youth. Most people look to this high school, and what they see are swarms of students, hat, after backpack, after skateboard, after football, generalized and materialized by their ‘community’. When I look to these kids, I dont see a label. Or a sport, or a hairstyle. I see hearts, on legs. I see every flicker of hope left on this dying candle of a planet, I see the only free minds of hour generation repressed and depressed by institutions, and so we all turn to poetry. Let’s talk about compassion. Let’s talk about looks of no hope and lost souls, let’s talk about a room, one hour a day, two days a week, that saved our lives, we saved eachothers lives, and with eachother we lived on. Let’s talk about a classroom, 3206, talk about a woman, the only woman, that gave us a chance, gave us a face, gave us a place, gave us a space to face our demons, giving no chase to expel our repel these reasons for self loathing, but to take hold of those loathings and make them lessons, Let’s talk about the aggression. That thirst, that insatiable need to speak, that feet stomping, jaw dropping, spit fire so hot we givin stock to the arsonists, the lyricists, the vernacular contortioninsts, that “Damn, You never thought you’d heard the verses come from these kids, that if there’s one way out, please allow us to vocally split you open and drain out every insecurity you’ve ever known, cause right now, you’re breathin’ poetry, baby, and this air that forms this breath that comes from these lips is the essence that creates this poem of life that we all wrote, let’s talk about spoken words, now, I’ve never been one to take pride in my community, but today Im glad that it’s a part of me. I’ve never been one to take pride in my community, but it seems to be to me that poetry is keeping it alive, keeping US alive. I’ve never been one to take pride in my community, but from Billerica Center, to Market Street, Burlington to Peabody, Boston, Westborough, Brookline, Holyoke, Butler, KIPPA, RAW Art, IBA, with Free Verses in mind we find ourselves to confide in eachother and I am PROUD! I’ve never been one to take pride in my community, but I confide in comfort knowing that my community is poetry. Thank you.

and with that, I put everything I had on that stage, and participated in LTAB for the last time thank you all for the amazing experience. every single poet, every single poem, has entirely changed me. thank you thank you thank you. keep writing.

It was so great to preform in LTABMA again. I love hearing all the poetry and seeing all familiar and new faces knowing that we share so much love for the same thing. I loved that Alex The Poet, Champy, Cody, and Tj all showed up and supported us and read poetry. The inspiration they give myself and the rest of us is incredible. Today, I can leave the stage knowing that I left everything I had on it. Billerica placed first in our first bout and second in our second. But honestly, points aside, I am so happy to be apart of something so much bigger and more beautiful than I can ever imagine. As my potential last time performing in Louder Than A Bomb, Boston, all I can say is thank you for giving me a chance. It means more than anybody will ever be able to know. Love, your fellow poet