I saw God in their eyes, and their mouths sang Revolution
Reporting on the tremendous beauty in life, and the stirring of the human spirits, in real time:
Truth is ripping your heart out and holding it to the sun so they can see. Truth is trembling and shaking yet proceeding despite fear of retribution or even death itself.
Liberation is when you fight against the internal deity of death and let yourself do the thing you are afraid of; and then repeating that over and over and over again.. until…
until suddenly your life is not recognizable, and you often find yourself feeling like you live in somewhat of a metaphysical mermaid climate as you drive home on tropical storm soaked Florida highways and think.. my God.. you have blessed me beyond measure.
Surely, we have to talk about these events in the analog world:
Loving the bullet points right now so let’s do this:
The spiritual prison break continues. Since the first time returning to the stage in exactly one year to date, it has become a habit to do a minimum of one open mic per week.
This is so far beyond where it started and it’s only been a month. It’s not just about breaking out of a spiritual prison anymore, it’s building something in tandem with a local community of artists, and getting to witness God speaking through the people every time someone shares their works
Let us start with a story from last week…because the electricity that emanated from people in the community… whoa. It is something people need to know about - especially in the digital-algorithmic climate of doom, let us remember there is more than something to just be hopeful about, there’s things going on IRL that are antidotes to the madness:
The Jack Kerouac House in St Pete
First off, tap in with
here on the ‘Stack, he is the Poet in Residence at the Jack Kerouac house. His works are tremendous, as is his service to the community.We arrived on Sunday and I knew who the featured poet was, Dennis Amadeus, a phenomenal artist from Tampa who I’d seen around before. He is also the co-founder of Growhouse Tampa - an organization providing poetry workshops, open mics and poetry slams. They are home to some of the best poets around and are a force to be reckoned with.
What I didn’t know was that the event was also open to other poets to read their works, so the house was beyond electrifying with the collective energy.
I noticed a young girl in the front. She had a notebook. I wondered why she was writing or drawing (it looked like an art pad) while all this was going on.
She was writing poetry… and she read it at the end of the event. Yo… I almost burst into tears multiple times hearing what she wrote. Her being there and sharing what she did at that young of an age is more hope for humanity than I have seen in a long time.
The same can be said for the community that provides the space for young people to show up and do poetry instead of falling into the death traps of the streets; something I made the mistake of doing as a young one, as did many of my comrades who are no longer here.
I cannot stress enough the importance of young people having creative outlets and creative communities who support them. It is the difference between life and death, between future and no future, for all of us.
That already is huge. Then there was Dennis.
The spoken word pieces he read, including pieces from his upcoming manuscript, whoa. It is not common that I hear someone touch on the grieving process and death so accurately, and publicly.
He did that. He did it masterfully too; it physically felt like this sponge of emotions within me was getting wrung out while he performed those pieces.
That was the mastery in it, he could excavate gnarly emotions and assist with some sort of detoxification for those listening, because he knew exactly how far to take it, knew when to pivot and when to return.
That’s the best way I could describe it, but nothing will ever compare to being there IRL to feel the energy in the room.
So infinite salutes to Dennis Amadeus, and yall should go check out his work.
Then there was every other poet in the house who got to read. I was one of them, and the last house Jack Kerouac lived in… wow. To be in that house was a trip.
Interlude:
it was emphasized at the Sunday event, and at the one I got back from tonight: Given the state of the world, we need poetry and community now more than ever - the instinct, which I have felt here with you as well, is we need MORE of this in response to the madness, NOT LESS.
I cannot tell you how refreshing it was to hear that at two events in a row. I cannot tell you how refreshing it is to just be around so many people with such beautiful things to say… and brilliantly brave and savagely cutthroat lightning bolt lines of truth and raw honesty they have lived — things that normally you cannot say.
We need these spaces where we CAN in fact, say the things. The deepest things.
It provides an ultimate reality check where we realize how beautiful, connected and interwoven the human soul and experience is.
So, to rip one’s heart out and say, hey, this is the condition of this thing, and here’s what it has to say is intense, but necessary.
I went up there and read something I surely had never read aloud in front of that many people. It was a recent works… I think I’ve posted it here.
I remember looking into the eyes briefly of some of the women in the front row. My age, some younger. You could tell, even in split seconds, you could see all the way into their eyes - they understood. A silent sacred sharing of survival recognition. In those moments, it is as if you can see through a persons eyes and into something we cannot describe, other than Soul.
That’s how that room felt, electric charge with raw emotion, as if we’d all been waiting for the place to convene to unzip the matrix mask and shout that we are still alive — There is something different about that place, the Kerouac house..
So there was that. And I was shaking the entire drive home when the event ended, but I also must highlight another woman who shared her poetry.
The delivery and the experience she shared from her life growing up in Brazil was not something I can describe without doing it an injustice, because I am not her - but I remember seeing brief hesitation before she spoke because, well, telling the truth can be a dangerous business. But a necessary one— and she did it.
The last line of her piece and how she left it, I absolutely love. She did not feel the need to provide some sort of cadence or “resolve”, she left it at the stone cold truth and did not dress it up to make anyone comfortable. That is my favorite thing.
The ultimate cutthroat ending line, those are words you will never forget hearing. I mean this in the best of ways. I know how hard it is to tell the FULL truth, knowing it is a truth most of the world will do anything to avoid facing, and delivering it exactly as is.
I think we as a people could greatly benefit from developing more ability to handle reality on reality’s terms, instead of spinning delusions to try and soften the blow. The ones who are in the shit, whatever “the shit” is that is currently discussed, do not have that luxury.
Sure, someone can run away or drug themselves into oblivion, but others cannot. They have to fight and in order to survive they have to speak the truth.
It’s almost as if the truth has a spirit of its own, and if not given proper justice and life by being breathed through our lungs and into words, it will revolt inside of us and wage war.
And then there was tonight:
Lots of people, more than I expected. Again the message of how we need poetry and free expression now more than ever… and you will have people likely from all walks of life and all with varying opinions, preferences, etc… but there is always the common thread:
No one wants war. Everyone wants connection. We are all looking for ways to improve conditions here on earth.
These electronics and their algorithms, the TV, the phones and social media, they’ll have you believing otherwise. And the people who live their lives chronically and endlessly plugged into these devices, they will emulate the same reality, they become transmitters for the technology, repeating the same lines and words fed from the machine.
It is no shade on the people in those predicaments, they are under a spell, and I’d like to see people free of that so they can have full ownership over their minds, regardless of what their mind thinks; as long as it belongs to them.
But when you do get into these spaces, the people who come here are making an effort to show up in public, get on a stage, speak from their hearts and share a message; that is a very different experience and exchange.
We are all like alka-seltzer tabs in a cosmic ocean - so pick the part of the ocean you want to dive in, because the alchemical reaction of human participation in this deal is beyond words. And perhaps so impactful because we are all alive in an age where many are opting for the synthetic, passive, digital, and we often don’t realize how much of a robbery this is, until we’re reminded of the real thing.
I highlight this for another reason:
I was talking with someone this week about why dating apps are an absolute cesspool of degeneracy. What is happening to them? What has happened here?
She pointed something out:
Anyone reliant upon apps alone to meet people, especially when seeking out something important, you’re going to get a type of person who likely has a higher level of dysfunction if they aren’t willing to leave the house to get it.
I am not saying that’s the case for everyone, but when people go to apps and rely on algorithms to deliver what they want on demand, it literally damages the brain, it destroys vital neural pathways we have relied on for millennia to connect with life itself, let alone one another.
We’ve gone from meeting people in places that make sense (areas of common interest, or mutual friend groups where accountability for shitty behavior exists, because if you meet a stranger from the internet who doesn’t know anyone you know, who’s gonna know if you fuck that person over?) to now swiping through life we’re playing a slot machine.
The result? An alarming display of people who are incredibly deprived of human connection, and also have a really warped view on the world and how things are “supposed” to work out. High levels of active addiction, high levels of red-flag behavior rooted in delusions from the mirage of para-social relationships, which can lead to things like stalking and in some cases, worse.
Needless to say, they are all very disappointed and what is the word.. not jaded but… almost faded. Faded-away people. Exhausted from searching in a place where nothing actually exists.
This digital way of doing life has turned people into compulsive consumers. They can’t see where in life they’d be expected to show up and bring something of substance to the picture; they live in perpetual voyeurism.
It’s dehumanizing for everyone involved, and we wonder why people have the ability to do insane shit with no conscience?
This extends beyond dating apps as well. Think of how many people have traded in their “in person time” for posting on Facebook or whatever.
In contrast:
When I do make effort to go out to places I have true soul passion and interest in, be it a music or poetry event, open mic, community jam, drum circle, concert, farmers market, gym, hike, beach, yoga, church, I find people I actually connect with. There are people everywhere. But it’s a different type of connection and a different type of person that you’ll meet IRL.
Get involved with something in the community.
wrote a beautiful article on living locally, please check it out.This is what everyone is ultimately looking for, yet we’re in some collective freeze paralysis — however, the whole point of me writing this article is that the “paralysis freeze” and insane people are not as pronounced as one may think.
Revolution is stirring. People are coming together.
People are speaking their truth and creating movement within communities. It is so beautiful and phenomenal and it is something I hope no one will miss.
I know we have all been through a lot. And some of us have healing roads we need to take before we can jump back into the mix of everything, and that is totally normal. I had to do that most of this last year, and the years before that holy shit, I was in a freeze paralysis for a long time.
What I am here to say is, there is great beauty, great hope and great love outside of that isolation.
We know the world is wild right now, but there are so many people who are doing shit about it IN REAL LIFE - and in the best of ways. You just gotta be there, in person, to see it.
Salute and goodnight from Florida. I hope wherever you are, you find your way to the communities and places that call to you.
You don’t have to have people to roll with, you don’t have to know who is gonna be there. Just go.
You will meet them and then start seeing the same faces and yall will then start developing friendships and hitting events together and it just keeps building. Just go. The world needs what you were born to give.
To support my work here on the ‘stack, you can make a one-time donation at this “buy me a coffee” link here: https://ko-fi.com/tesstamona - it’s like a digital tip jar. :-)
For previous posts on some of the other events/open mics from this month (including videos), see below:
To hell with the algorithms! Bring on the authentic connection and belonging. 🙏❤️
Lady! You did it again! With your writing it always feels as if I sit across the table from you, sipping my cup of coffee and drinking in your words. It is 6.38 in the morning UK time and wow what a fantastic piece of writing to start my day! You give me hope! Be blessed!