You've probably been told that you are the future. Adults like telling kids that. And it's true. You are the future! You, yes, you, the students of Greenhills, you, the youth, you, the next generation, you are indeed the future.
But what adults sometimes forget to mention is that you are the present, too. Everything you think, say, do or don't do, everything you decide, everything you are is a part of what we call “reality.” With every choice you make, you are actively participating in the construction of the human condition. We are all co-authors of this story, this great poem called “life.” We are the past, present, and future, because all actions are connected in the infinite web of physical systems by cause and effect, or, from a spiritual perspective, karma.
Twenty-five years ago, James Baldwin delivered the speech to the graduates of Hampshire College, where I now go. He began that speech by saying: “The reality in which we live is a reality we have made, and it's time, my children, to begin the act of creation all over again.”
In that spirit, I welcome you to the Republic of Poetry. The Republic of Poetry is a state of mind. It is a place where creativity meets community, where the imagination serves humanity. The Republic of Poetry is a republic of justice, because the practice of justice is the highest form of human expression. This goes beyond the tired idea of “poetic justice,” because all justice is poetic.
In the words of Walter Lowenfels, “everyone is a poet, a creator, somewhere, somehow... It's in the sense of helping to create a new society that we are poets in whatever we do. And it is our gesture against death. We know we are immortal because we know the society we are helping to build is our singing tomorrow.”
You, yes, you, the students of Greenhills middle school, are the poets of this Republic. The only law is that you must take on the responsibility of being human. You are all co-creators of reality. You are the past, present, and future. You are part of humanity, the most powerful collective force on Earth. It's the toughest and most important work on the planet, and no one gets to read the job description before signing up. Responsibility means the ability to respond. As humans, we are able to respond to the human condition. In other words, you are actively participating in the creation of society whether you want to or not. Hopefully you want to, because if you haven't noticed, the society we live in is quite the fixer-upper. Frankly, we need all the help we can get.
as humans,
our job is to communicate
it's what we're up to
it's why we're here
we gotta keep doing it
the best we can
it ain't easy
but poetry helps
You've probably been told that words matter. And it's true. Words do matter, because language is power. To quote Baldwin again, “People evolve a language in order to describe and thus control their circumstances, or in order not to be submerged by a reality that they cannot articulate. (And, if they cannot articulate it, they are submerged.)” In other words, description is powerful. By using words to create representations of realities, we actively organize, construct, and engage with those realities. The evolution of humanity, therefore, depends on the evolution of language. The stories we tell, the poems we write, the labels we attach, and the conversations we have are all part of that evolution, whether we are aware of it or not. Today, I'd like to ask you to be aware of it. I challenge you to take responsibility for being human by embracing the poet within, and I dare you to practice self-awareness every time you open your mouth, put a pencil to the page, or even send a text message. Because all language is poetry, and poetry is prophecy.
That's right. You are a poet and a prophet. You have the power to change the world just by speaking. In this sense, language is a form of activism. “Activism” is a funny word, because it sounds like something big and scary that you'd have to be really angry or maybe a little crazy to do. But actually, we are “activists” every day, whenever we try to make the world better in any way, big or small. So now I'd like to raise the stakes of my dare. Not only do I dare you to be a poet every day by practicing being aware of the words that come out of your mouth and go into your writing; I also dare you to be an activist every day by thinking, speaking, and acting in ways that you think make the world a better place. Last, I dare you to put the two together. Story-telling, poetry, and art are all profoundly powerful forms of activism, because the stories we tell can move people and change their perspectives. Even the smallest, simplest, most humble poem can be an act of political resistance. But in order to really reach an audience, you must exercise your powers of creativity and imagination. You must use both vision and language. Any progressive social change must be imagined first, and that vision must find its most eloquent possible expression to move from vision to reality. Any oppressive social condition, before it can change, must be named and condemned in words that persuade by stirring the emotions and awakening the senses. Art as activism promotes understanding. By sharing your stories, your hopes, fears and dreams, you offer others the opportunity to see life from your point of view. When people truly understand each other, they naturally express empathy, justice, peace, and love.
In the state of mind that is the Republic of Poetry, these are our first principles. In the Republic of Poetry, everyone takes responsibility for the human condition. The Republic of Poetry is a place where, as Walt Whitman says, “your very flesh shall be a great poem.” It is a place where you are your own greatest creation, your own most inspired invention. It is a place where you make of your life an epic poem. You may discover that medicine is your poetry, or law is your poetry, or education is your poetry, or journalism is your poetry, or music is your poetry, or poetry is your poetry.
Let me tell you a secret. I am a prophet. And I foresee that all of you will help create a better world. This better world is your birthright as a human. Let me tell you another secret. I am nothing special. I am an ordinary person like you, just like everyone else. But I'll never say “I'm only human,” because that makes it sound like a bad thing. When actually, all people are powerful, all people are poets, all people are prophets, story-tellers, and activists. To quote Sly and the Family Stone: “Everybody is a star.” To quote Jesus: “You are the light of the world. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works.”
In the Republic of Poetry there is no war, because phrases like “weapons of mass destruction,” “shock and awe,” “collateral damage,” and “surge” are nothing but clichés, bad poetry by bad poets, and no one believes them. They bleed language of its meaning, drain the blood from words. You, the next generation, must reconcile language with meaning, restore the blood to words, and end this war.
The Republic of Poetry has no borders. In this republic no human being is illegal. In this republic no one is thrown on the other side of the fence after building the fence. Every time the fence goes up, you must tear it down.
In the Republic of Poetry, everyone has shoes. Here is Jack Agüeros' “Psalm for Distribution:”
Lord,
on 8th Street
between 6th Avenue and Broadway
there are enough shoe stores
with enough shoes
to make me wonder
why there are shoeless people
on the earth.
Lord,
You have to fire the Angel
in charge of distribution.
You, the next generation, have to fire the Angel in charge of distribution. To accomplish this, you may have to fire the president, or a senator, or a governor; you have that right in a democracy. However, they are also representatives of a larger economic system. You must radically transform that system so that everyone has shoes, so that everyone has the opportunity to realize his or her full human – that is to say, poetic – potential. Walter Lowenfels sums it up: “When the tragedy of the world market no longer dominates our existence, new gradations of being in love with being here will emerge.”
In the Republic of Poetry your vote counts, because the voting machines actually work. In this republic your dollars pay for schools and hospitals instead of bullets and bombs, because every poem by our greatest poets is scientific proof that living is better than dying.
In this republic, there is no official language, because all languages are poetic. En la Republica de la Poesia se habla espanol. In the Republic of Poetry, the poet is the true self, whoever that may be. The poet within us rebels against conformity, decorum and obedience, saying the unsayable before the moment passes. The Republic of Poetry is a place of miracles. You carry the engine of miracles with you everywhere, inside your head. When you realize this, everything becomes possible.
You who believe in this Republic will be accused of daydreaming and utopianism. To these crimes you must plead guilty as charged. Tell them: Yes! I did it! I was daydreaming of a more just world instead of something more age-appropriate and consumer-oriented, like a $200 pair of Nikes.
This is Eduardo Galeano on the subject of utopia: “She's on the horizon... I go two steps closer, she moves two steps away. I walk ten steps and the horizon runs ten steps ahead. No matter how much I walk, I'll never reach her. What good is utopia? That's what: it's good for walking.”
A century ago, when your father's grandfather was a child, the eight-hour workday was utopian; the eradication of polio was utopian; the end of lynching and segregation in the South was utopian. The next generation writes the poetry of the impossible.
You will make the impossible possible. But, no change for the good ever happens without being imagined first.
So imagine, dream, create, shine,
write your own rights
in a new constitution
for the Republic of Poetry
where we drink revolution
where we spit empathy
and we sing creation
we breathe change
welcome to the image - I - nation
where we know
the evolution of the world
depends on you
so whatever you do
don't be bored
or lazy
shake, shatter walls
let loose your inner crazy
go mad with love
like the fire you are
every soul is a star
the sun is a sign
that every body makes the cosmos whole
so dance with joy
and shine!
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