Get Lit - Words Ignite is striving to change LA's literacy rate & arts scene into a grassroots wonderland, one teen poet at a time. Through classic and slam poetry, we ignite a love of words and introduce teens to great works of literature and poetry. They respond with their own original poems and perform them all over the world.
Ultimately, our goal is to improve students' writing and speaking skills, which will benefit them in university and beyond. Through our program they also develop self-confidence and unbreakable friendships and collaborations.
Check out our performances, interviews and behind-the-scenes tomfoolery here, and don't forget to visit our official site at www.getlit.org.
Is there something wrong with you? A loose screw or two that ruined your ability to function? Why are you always so tired? Your life is uninspired and small; all you do is sprawl on the couch with outstretched limbs like a sloth in slow-motion. Where is your devotion to succeed, Maia? Did it drift out your window with the smoke from your weed? Do I need to force feed you discipline ‘til you finally concede? I cook and I clean and I don't stop ‘til the soles of my feet bleed. But I'm fine. I'm perfect. Be perfect, Maia. Be perfect like me. Stop wearing those god awful ripped pants and that lipstick like a whore with double-d implants. You only get one chance. Stop acting like a cat with nine lives left. Stop committing yourself to songs and stories and spoken slam bullshit in a world where degrees and PhD's impede the need for poetry. And stop chewing on your nails. No wonder you've never attracted any males. Why do you do that? Do you like the taste? Are they sweet? You can't eat sweets, Maia. You're ruining your teeth like you're ruining your life. My teeth are perfect. Clean and pristine. They gleam like the golden halo above my perfectly conditioned head. I don't need sugar, Maia. I am above sugar. Why are you down here, Maia? Why are you down here when you need to be up here? Up here with the ones who have a promising career Who listen when information goes in one ear and doesn't come out the other. You'll never be up here, Maia. You act as if the act of listening is a crime or you would have heard me the six hundred and sixty-sixth time I told you to STOP CHEWING ON YOUR NAILS. Stop chewing on your nails like a goddamn piece of trash. You can't be trash, Maia. You have to be perfect. Be perfect like me. I get up at 5 in the morning every day. I start my day the same way worried that I'll collapse as my bones start to decay from cleaning up your scraps. Why is your room such a mess? The clothes go in the hamper, Maia. Not displayed on your bed like your lack of morals. Not littered on the floor collecting more dust than my withered expectations. You disregard my rules with stubborn contempt in a substandard attempt at teenage rebellion. But you can't be a rebel, Maia. You're not interesting enough. You need to obey and say 'yes' and 'okay' You need to do it with a smile on your less than average face. You need to try harder, Maia. Make it wider, Maia. Why don't you know how to smile? You disappoint me, Maia. You never appreciate what I do for you. You never try to be a winner. And you never eat your dinner. You never eat the dinner I consistently provide for you as I constantly remind you of the life I set aside for you. That meal doesn't pay for itself. I don't care if it's ideal, stop telling me how you feel. You need to eat it. Eat it all. Eat it at a reasonable time with a glass of milk. You need milk, Maia. You need calcium like you need a catalyst for growth. You'll never grow to be tall. Be tall like me. I drink my milk, Maia. Drink your fucking milk. Be tall. Be perfect. Be perfect like me. You need to pay more attention, Maia. Stop daydreaming, Maia. Stop staring at the ceiling as if your one redeeming quality lies hidden in the plaster. You need to organize your life. Your life is a disaster Just like your room. Just like your teeth. Just like your future, Which will soon come to an end if you don't put down that pen. You need to stop writing, Maia. Your life is not a book. Don't give me that look, Maia. I'm just trying to help you. I'm just trying to love you. I'm just trying to love you. You have to let me love you so that you can be perfect. Be perfect like me.
Thank you Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin, Sidney Pollack, Donald Sutherland, Alan J. Pakula, Jon Voight, Hal Ashby and all the wonderful photographers, writers, and all the people that put together this magnificent movies, that we are watched and still watch today in 2024
For two years, I cried while listening to this again and again because I know what they've been through. I now can watch it without having a mental breakdown 🥺❤🩹
My biggest fear is school shootings. Not just for myself but my friends even if im safe i will worry abt them. My siblings theyvare all still in school. I would text them asking if they where ok but i wouldn't in fear that if i did there phone would go off and alert the shooter where they are so i will just sit there hoping that they are ok and hoping they are alive. My mom, she is a teacher. She dose the drill shes knows the possibility she knows what to do. But does that make her safe. You can not plan for every possibility ever little thing can trigger soemthung else. I should not have tp go to school worring that i might not make it home. Or even wores that i make it home while my friends dont. I shouldnt have to go to school woreing that that moring was the last moring i saw one of my siblings or that the night before was the last time i would have called one of them. I shouldnt have to go to school worring abt if i will ever see someone again, worring that i might lose a friend or a sibling.
Just letting whoevoer's reading this know that GOD gave up HIS Son, Jesus, for us. He died and rose on the third day. If you want to be saved, confess with your mouth that Jesus is LORD, and believe in your heart that GOD raised Him from the dead. I encourage you to try GOD out, HE is all we really need.
I really enjoy listening to you guys. You stretch my brain in unusual ways that don’t come naturally to me. It’s like trying to learn the concept of fluidity with a mind that likes fact based theories. I have a question though, what is the response poem about?
wow... started off funny but I was so, so moved by the ending. sometimes the discrimination and the passionate cruelty of strangers and 'family' makes me lose sight of what a beautiful thing being queer is too, that ending was a much-needed uplifting reminder. love will on keep living, so will we, no matter how much they try to extinguish us ❤️🌈
