Also available as audio-only on iTunes, Spotify, & wherever you get podcasts

Myron Woods channels the SoCal Poetry Gods during “Threads and Lines” The Clique gets fiery about F-bombs bursting or missing in spoken word during the “2 Piece Combo” and Myron brings it all home with an immaculately concocted poem about black struggle on this episodes “5 For Ya Eye”.

[Episode Index]

• “Pitbull: Part 2” 0:34
  
• Threads & Lines: 4:45
  
• 2 Piece | “Here am I” 14:35
  
• 2 Piece | #poetry: 39:20
  
• 5 For Your Eye | 34:09

Sitting and waiting on concrete steps is a right of passage for L.A. poets. To get on at “Da Poetry Lounge,”a venue 20-years strong and founded by some of spoken word’s most iconic personalities, you have to wait. Three hours early is the safest bet to being assured a spot on the first round open mic list or monthly slam. It is not only a vetting process for poetry but a means to build community. A place for artists to be nervously unsure together, and it was in that wait that introduced me to Myron Woods.

As time would pass and we would continue to slam side by side, or see each other at weekly open mics, I began to grow not only a healthy respect for Myron and his work, but a fascination and wonder. “Where is he going with this?” is something I learned to ask about Myron’s work because it was always moving. He has an understanding of spoken word and drama that I see elevating poetry and it brought me to wonder, where is this coming from?

Myron Woods represents something very special to me in this next generation of poets, something we haven’t seen until recent: A poet raised on spoken word. Def Poetry Jam exposed a lot of our generation to spoken word for the first time. It was poetry presented in a way that was not only entertaining and dynamic, but allowed an accessibility that inspired and uplifted how we view poetry. We now have a generation sharing poetry memes and videos for inspiration, and raised with seeing poetry performed by people that look and sound like themselves. Myron, being of this new generation of participating-fans of spoken word, gives me a wonderful assurance about where this poetry thing is going, and how it is influencing the youth. Inviting him to the Pen Clique was a chance to investigate and discover how deep the poetry roots have grown into his generation.

We arrived at Myron’s house with a focus to showcase this exciting new poet, teeth cut on Rudy Franciscoand Shihan, ready to make the world feel something. The execution of that showcase is always the struggle. We were still early in shooting and I was half-sure of how we were doing things. We had decided to make the “2 Piece Combo” this hybrid of a reaction-video and poetry-review, which hauls the show deeper into “webshow turf” as opposed to being hood-adjacent as “companion video content.” By doing so, we represented poetry as we experience it in an honest way, showing the more raw-reaction that only comes from heads that are passionate about poetry.

This generation of poets out there, waiting on concrete steps to inspire people, have a new understanding of what spoken word is and it’s exciting to see where they’ll take it. Myron Woods may or may not be an active poet for the rest of his life, but regardless, I am excited to see what he and his generation does with this spoken word influence, and where they lead art and poetry for the generation to follow.

Writeup by Daniel Hees

[Footnotes]

• Myron Woods: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
• 2 Piece Combo: Anis Mojgani – Here am I
  
• 2 Piece Combo: #Poetry @Herbertsona
  
• Music by The Dope Spot Studios Produced by Dom V
  
• Intro title & segment transitions animated by Seth Garnes