I love this girl group! This is my favorite song from their latest album! Enjoy and make sure to drop a comment!

Alicia Keys .. poetry. `nuff said.

Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry Jam hosted by Mos Def.

CLip of Kanye West at Def Poetry Jam

Black Ice on Def Poetry

Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry Jam hosted by Mos Def.

Phoebe Snow~Poetry Man (1989)

KRS-One rhymes over Doug E Fresh beatboxing.

Saul Williams performs his popular poetry piece Coded Language of Def Poetry Jam.

I love it so much!

CB's slightly drunken contribution to Voyager's Poetry in Motion multimedia series from the '90's.

A performance by Talib Kweli on Russel Simmons Def Peotry Jam

A Rik Mayall live sketch from the early '80s.

Bjork at Royal Opera House sing Pagan Poetry !!! (dedicace a Toma)

One of 25 video poems in Four Seasons Productions upcoming Moving Poetry Series - Three innovative new films - RANT * RAVE * RIFF. The Weary Blues was written by Langston Hughes in 1923 and recited in our film by author and Harvard Professor Dr. Allen Dwight Callahan. Learn more about this provocative new series, featured poems, poets and readers at www.4SeasonsProductions.com.

Suheir Hammad - Def Poetry

Audio of Poetry in Motion by Johnny Tillotson (1960)

Spoken word from the humble genius, Scroobius Pip. www.scroobiuspip.co.uk www.myspace.com/scroobiuspip

I love being Black. I love being called Black. I love being an American. I love being a Black American, but as a Black man in this country I think it's a shame that every few years we get a change of name. Since those first ships arrived here from Africa that came across the sea there were already Black men in this country who were free. And as for those that came over here on those terrible boats, they were called niggah and slave and told what to do and how to behave. And then master started trippin' and doing his midnight tippin', down to the slave shacks where he forced he and Great-Great Grandma to be together, and if Great-Great Grandpa protested, he got tarred and feathered. And at the same time, the Black men in the country who were free, were mating with the tribes like the Apache and the Cherokee. And as a result of all that, we're a parade of every shade. And as in this late day and age, you can be sure, they ain't too many of us in this country whose bloodline is pure. But, according to a geological, geographical, genealogy study published in Time Magazine, the Black African people were the first on the scene, so for what it's worth, the Black African people were the first on earth and through migration, our characteristics started to change, and rearrange, to adapt to whatever climate we migrated to. And that's how I became me, and you became you. So, if we gonna go back, let's go all the way back, and if Adam was Black and Eve was Black, then that kind of makes it a natural fact that everybody in America is an African American. Everybody in Europe is an African European; everybody in the Orient is an African Asian and so on and so on, that is, if the origin of man is what we're gonna go on. And if one drop of Black blood makes you Black like they say, then everybody's Black anyway. So quit trying to change my identity. I'm already who I was meant to be I'm a Black American, born and raised. And brother James Brown wrote a wonderful phrase, "Say it loud, I'm Black and I'm proud! Say it loud, I'm Black and I'm proud!" Cause I'm proud to be Black and I ain't never lived in Africa, and 'cause my Great-Great Granddaddy on my Daddy's side did, don't mean I want to go back. Now I have nothing against Africa, it's where some of the most beautiful places and people in the world are found. But I've been blessed to go a lot of places in this world, and if you ask me where I choose to live, I pick America, hands down. Now, by and by, we were called Negroes, and after while, that name has vanished. Anyway, Negro is just how you say 'black' in Spanish. Then, we were called colored, but shit, everybody's one color or another, and I think it's a shame that we hold that against each other. And it seems like we reverted back to a time when being called Black was an insult, even if it was another Black man who said it, a fight would result, cause we've been so brainwashed that Black was wrong, So that even the yellow niggahs and black niggahs couldn't get along. But then, came the 1960s when we struggled and died to be called equal and Black, and we walked with pride with our heads held high and our shoulders pushed back, and Black was beautiful. But, I guess that wasn't good enough, cause now here they come with some other stuff. Who comes up with this shit anyway? Was it one, or a group of niggahs sitting around one day? Feelin' a little insecure again about being called Black and decided that African American sounded a little more exotic. Well, I think you were being a little more neurotic. It's that same mentality that got "Amos and Andy" put off the air, cause they were embarrassed about the way the character's spoke. And as a result of that action, a lot of wonderful Black actors ended up broke. When we were just laughin' and have fun about ourselves. Why you keep trying to attach yourself to a continent, where if you got the chance and you went, most people there would even claim you as one of them; as a pure bread daughter or son of them. Your heritage is right here now, no matter what you call yourself or what you say And a lot of people died to make it that way. And if you think America is a leader on inequality and suffering and grievin', how come there so many people comin' and so few leavin'? Rather than all this 'find fault with America' fuck you promotin', if you want to change something, use your privilege, get to the polls! Commence to votin'! God knows we've earned the right to be called American Americans and be free at last. And rather than you movin' forward progress, you dwelling in the past. We've struggled too long; we've come too far. Instead of focusing on who we were, let's be proud of who we are. We are the only people whose name is always a trend. When is this shit gonna end? Look at all the different colors of our skin...

Fan Post. CD:"The Very Best Of Phoebe Snow" (c)2001 Columbia Records

El mejor video "controversial" la canción es una de las 100 mejores del mundo...

View poetry in an entirely new and innovative way. Billy Collins, former US Poet Laureate and one of America's best-selling poets, reads his poem "Forgetfulness" with animation by Julian Grey of Headgear. Noted for their intelligent humor, accessibility and observations on daily life, Collins' popular poems come alive further in a series of animated poems produced by JWT-NY. - - - - - - The Poem - The name of the author is the first to go followed obediently by the title, the plot, the heartbreaking conclusion, the entire novel which suddenly becomes one you have never read, never even heard of, as if, one by one, the memories you used to harbor decided to retire to the southern hemisphere of the brain, to a little fishing village where there are no phones. Long ago you kissed the names of the nine Muses goodbye and watched the quadratic equation pack its bag, and even now as you memorize the order of the planets, something else is slipping away, a state flower perhaps, the address of an uncle, the capital of Paraguay. Whatever it is you are struggling to remember, it is not poised on the tip of your tongue, not even lurking in some obscure corner of your spleen. It has floated away down a dark mythological river whose name begins with an L as far as you can recall, well on your own way to oblivion where you will join those who have even forgotten how to swim and how to ride a bicycle. No wonder you rise in the middle of the night to look up the date of a famous battle in a book on war. No wonder the moon in the window seems to have drifted out of a love poem that you used to know by heart.

The prevalence of the ugly word among blacks in America.

U.S. Poet Laureate (2004-2006) Ted Kooser is a major poetic voice for rural and small town America and the award-winning author of ten collections of poetry, most recently 2004's Pulitzer Prize-winning Delights and Shadows. Nebraskan Kooser often draws from his native Great Plains and his poems are acclaimed for their simple, straightforward style. Kooser reads from his poetry before a standing-room only audience in Campbell Hall at UC Santa Barbara. [8/2005] [Humanities] [Arts and Music] [Show ID: 9537]

Russell Simmons presents Def Poetry Jam hosted by Mos Def.