It’s Tricky: A National Poetry Month Celebration With The King of Rock!

Yo…

Lastly: April is National Poetry Month.

So we close out National Poetry Month with 1 final poem.

I went with poetry for April’s newsletters even though April, thanks to President Biden is National Arab American Heritage Month. Observe the heritage and culture and pay tribute to the contributions of Arab Americans and Arabic-speaking Americans. Shukran?

Jazz Appreciation Month is every April. Apparently many jazz performers were born during this month: cue happy jazz hands.

April is recognized as National Stress Awareness Month to bring attention to the negative impact of stress. Pairs well with 4-20 celebrations.

And don’t forget to cut the crusts off your cucumber sandwiches because April is National Afternoon Tea Month. Though you’ll hafta make a food Sophie’s Choice since April is also National Brunch Month.

Randomly there’s a totally Alice in Wonderland teapot in the lobby of the Fairmont Royal York in downtown Toronto.

We also had special days like April Fools’ (April 1st), Weed Day (4-20), Earth Day (April 22nd) plus two sci-fi theme dates: First Contact Day celebrates Star Trek and my favourite Alien Day! (Alien Day is held on 4/26 in a nod to LV-426, the name of the moon where the xenomorphs were first discovered in the 1979 Ridley Scott film.)

(May has 2 sci-fi dates as well: May the 4th of course for Star Wars while May 11 is Twilight Zone Day. One of these days we must elect enough nerds who can pass legislation to formally make one of these significant nerd dates a federal holiday.)

Turns out we have a lot to appreciate and a lot to be thankful for in April.

Which is now…done. Even if you didn’t celebrate Weed Day or Alien Day or Afternoon Tea or Jazz.

Thank you for joining me during National Poetry Month. One last time, shall we?

Here’s a poem I wrote…

Serious Glow

My ideas outnumber stars
Today everything must fight to glow
So don’t be afraid to be casual
As the dressing down will occur
With the violence of a — necessary revolution
No ideas occur in a vacuum
But rather are built on a solid foundation
In some sort of mad effort to prove the existence of God (but never to prove the obvious goodness of God)
Because while The Work remains great
And the workers remain free
Those that labour must do so profusely
To savagely retard their ideas and halt what they term
progress…

            is a myth created by stingy capitalists

only death is certain and even that is not swift
nor does it contain promised relief
I fight with the voice I have honed
—a clarified near perfect sonic—
and with the life I have been blessed
here on earth

                        with the likes of you

Everything good must work hard for attention
Though often operating in shadows brings restless rewards
Time has never given me what I want:
Just a petty thief stealing what I know I cannot replace
My memories must grow beyond 3 chapters
Because that’s a short story; not a novel
Time is an enemy with no discernable weakness
Despite my vast intelligence I too wait for death
But until then, until that day, that very moment
My ideas grow fruit once produced into this world.

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DMC: A My Summer Lair Podcast

To accompany these poetry month newsletters I’ve been presenting My Summer Lair interviews with poets. However; here’s a twist: my old school conversation with DMC of Run-DMC.

This conversation is about finding your voice. DMC lost his voice and had to rediscover who he is. It’s one of my favourite MSL conversations because it’s just two dudes sitting around talking about comic books and old school hip hop. And yet there’s so much vulnerability and openness and reflection.

You can hear how DMC’s rap lyrics have been influenced by comic books and later become a rhymed expression of his emotions. He has done a lot; he has seen a lot.

It was such an honor to talk to him. I’m so grateful he made the time and space for us to get into it. So it’s not quite poetry but it still counts. And 2023 is the 50th anniversary of hip hop. DMC is one of the finest contributors that got hip hop to 50.

Sammy & DMC in their best b-boy pose…

DMC made the music but we helped build it; hip hop doesn’t get to 50 if we don’t listen to the music, go to concerts, share the music, adopt the slang, refine the fashion and more. Hip hop is 50 because we built this. And that’s fresh.

How did you celebrate Alien Day? My heart was bursting through my chest as I hung out with director Alexandre O. Philippe during Hot Docs 2019.

He was at the documentary film festival with his scintillating doc Memory: The Origins Of Alien. Turns out the Xenomorph was inspired by our universal fears mixed with ancient Greek and Egyptian mythology.

So we left the film festival and went to the ⁠Super Wonder Gallery which was hosting a sci-fi Alien exhibition. How fitting was that? It’s all happening! So a throwback to a happy Alien Day celebration.

Aliens and Rap Music…Now It’s A Party…
Sammy Younan
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Sammy Younan is the affable host of My Summer Lair podcast: think NPR’s Fresh Air meets Kevin Smith: interviews & impressions on Pop Culture.