T.S. Elliot's Lost Hip-Hop Poem
By Jeremy Richards
Performed by Jeremy Richards and Nathan Ramos at the 2002 National Poetry Slam's Team Championship
Let us roll then
you and I
the evening stretched out against the sky
like a punk ass I laid out with my fat rhymes
the eternal footman is no one to fuck with
alas he shall bring the ruckus
you think that you can step to this
and lo, I hear your steps like Lazarus
echoing through my soul
bring the bass
straight out of Missouri
Harvard University in your face
I’ve got ladies in waiting all over the place
hear them singing each to each
do I dare eat a peach
you’re damn right I
‘ll eat a peach
for who shall stop me with my
roof rock nonstop a clippity-clop a clippity-clop
I hear the horses carrying the wassailers
I’m ready to impale their ears with my verse
rolling off my parched tongue the way
trousers roll off my ankles
no other literati around
can confound
the post-Victorian quickness I bring
to the microphone
— though I shall die alone —
but not before I rock the house
watch me douse you in my eternal flame
of a freaky-ass style
my crew has the knowhow
with the European tangent
Кто твой папа сейчас (kto tvoy papa sejcas)
the Russian for “who’s your daddy now?”
for I will tell you that I have
scuttled across the floors of ancient clubs
and yay, knowing that you may never return
I will tell you this
that I have
been over to a friend’s house for dinner
and lo, the food was not any good
the macaroni soggy the
pees mushy and the
chicken tasted of wood
like the wooden coffin I created for myself
if this is going to be that sort of a party
I will stuff my desire into the mashed potatoes
I tell no lie
I will show you fear
and a handful of hip-hop
making your body rock
your soul shutter
your utter of disbelief
when the old school
the ancient school
returns from busty bookcovers
and scorned lovers
to reign again on
the open poetry mic
bring the pathos
bring the pathos
bring the pathos
you wannabe MC’s just can’t stop
till human voices
wake us
and we back the fuck up
into
eternity
At the National Poetry Slam 2002 Team Championship in Minneapolis, MN, on the stage at The Orpheum Theatre, Jeremy Richards (primary author) and Nathan Ramos of Seattle, WA perform "TS Elliot's Lost Hip Hop Poem" in Round 2 on August 13, 2002.
Video Lead: Gabrielle Bouliane
Cameras: Emil Churchin, Mike Cadela
Video and Audio editing and production: Tazuo Yamaguchi
PSi Executive Director: Steve Marsh
Host City Chair: Cynthia French
