Tribute to The Beat Within

In 2007 I was involved in a fundraising project with Maricopa County. It was a talent show and I chose to enter and showcase a Spoken Word piece. I need to eventually get it put on video...maybe a personal project to complete soon. But here it is in written form...it took me about a month to write. When I started writing it wasn't necessarily my intention to put together a tribute to The Beat Within, but being involved in this program was what made me excited and "pumped" about my job and working in the detention setting. I guess it was inevitable that out of my soul would flow a piece that spoke about what was nearest and dearest to my heart at that time.

Hope Found

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks

Pouring out self on paper, what is it anyone seeks

In creating verses worth repeating,

could it be the sublime

Accepting the inevitable

that articulate verses and rhymes

Will flow sometimes when I least expect it,

in hard times

When the emotions I carry within

are no longer contained

Sometimes I surprise myself,

and am surprised at the same

in others, how in the midst of personal pain

one can be so inspired

Life has often pummeled

a creative soul aspiring

to reach within for a glimpse of heaven

others may behold.

I guess it stands without reason

that talent will unfold

and come to light in dark places,

where you find hearts aching.

Yes, there are people held in prisons

of their own making.

Sometimes these prisons are hard to detect,

others perpetrating

incredulous acts of violence or greed

find themselves

now estimating

the days they will have to spend

behind intimidating walls.

Their desperation found in pent up scrawls

Searing words stabbing paper,

endless verses

intimating deep emotions,

once hidden in foul curses.

For beaten hearts, is there hope?

The answer is found when one reads

the words written by teens doing time.

Hope harvested after planting seeds

of literacy that could lift these young minds

out of the haze

and challenge them to grow

beyond limitations. In juvenile detention,

I’ve seen young people come and go

talented and intelligent,

yet scoffing at education in school,

eyeing authority with bravado

and distrust, identifying with the gang

and drug culture.

Entrepreneurs, in a sense, looking for a quick buck

But it’s when they hear the loud clang of metal,

are enveloped in silence and endlessly stuck

in their own thoughts, needing a listening ear,

an outlet for the emotions they hold back

that once ignored, books and reading

take on new meaning,

relieve the boredom. And the impact

on this captive audience

is that they might just get hooked

on the power of words

and the relief of finding an audience

for what flows through their soul...

so how will they be heard?

In 2003 editors and writers from San Francisco,

visited the Valley of the Sun

and shared their vision and goal

of a publication releasing voices in juvie hall

through paper and pencil,

The Beat Within,

birthed in the heart of Sandy Close and David Inocencio

Perceiving these teenagers

could no longer remain ignored

Beat staff began a journey of exploration,

because they’d been floored

in 1996 from the intensity of emotion sparked

by Tupac’s demise.

Now what The Beat Within attempts to create

each week

flies

in the face of conventional wisdom.

But after witnessing the grief

and widespread loss of a generation,

found in piece after piece,

reflecting the heart of detained youth

is what staff in the Bay

strive for, releasing imprisoned minds and hearts

by providing a way

for young people to find themselves

and to know that they are not alone

This medium of self-expression is sewn

together with pulsating heart

and sheds light on dark subjects.

What Beat writers have to say

is sometimes shocking, and reflects

a view of society struggling beneath a weight

of confusing messages of worshipping wealth

and expressing hate

through computerized violence;

the rich and famous pampering their pets

while returning from war, as heroes, Iraq war vets

who deserve

efficient, top notch medical and psychiatric care

are left instead to face the reality

of Vet hospitals in disrepair;

look into the inner cities,

find american dreams mired in dope

sold to make a profit at another’s expense,

a risky downhill slope

work hard to achieve the American dream…

but isn’t it funny,

deranged that some of our hardest workers

are making

the least amount of money?

Yet we still subscribe to have all we can,

no matter what the cost

And we say the best things in life are free,

while lost

in mounting credit card debt

amidst materialistic wonder

Facing personal lack and faceless existence,

family’s asunder,

teens looking to belong and fit in,

find themselves locked in a cell

Sent to prison for their attempts at seizing heaven

while living in hell

Is it any wonder our young people are confused

and tell us they are lacking in hope,

Contemplating their futures while high off dope

No sense in setting goals, don’t plan to live

past twenty one

Is it possible the ruthless nature

they are thrust into

can be undone

We believe we can contain hate and strife

behind barbed wires

but I ask instead is there a lesson to be learned

in all the forest fires

engulfing second homes up the coast

and mountainous desert terrain

That it only takes a spark, a flame fueled

by fury uncontained

to destroy what we hold dear.

Recognizing this truth

and then witnessing year in and year out

the proof

in the power of the written and spoken word to give

opportunity for expression of soul.

Even when to live

is unbearable and confusing,

it’s a relief to know you’re not alone

in your experience

and the emotional truth you own

I give props to The Beat Within for stepping up

against great odds

Year after year advocating for young men

and women living in pods

of stone and steel, not fanning the flames

of hate and strife, but offering answers to games

of life played out for decades

and challenging us

to open our eyes

and see that our youth behind bars

have a voice and the size

of audacity and talent that when nurtured

with time and direction

may result in a positive impact on a community,

may stun

a neighborhood not with fear

but awe and amazement

at what a mind can become

when the pain is released and one, bent

on restoration and redemption,

finds life not death

Hopefully it will spread

this vision of releasing voices

in the west

across the nation,

stand not in the way of this tide lest

the overwhelmed dam of hate and strife

break and down us all

finding our voices may we stand or silent

we may fall

Don’t stop writing beaten hearts,

write what you can,

say what you need to say

Write as if your very lives depended upon it...

Props Beat Within for each and every day

You give hope and a voice to beaten hearts.

Hearts with lessons of life, resilient,

the words they impart

Takes flight above stone and sand.

Hope found

In being read...heard...

valued...profound.

Tkaeu

092907