Liza Garza on HBO Def Poetry Performs “My Everything” without what has been referred to as “edits”…
My Everything
they said we’d become victim to the streets
as if the concrete could creep up and catch us
in the midst of walking lift up and grab us
cock back and blast us
backhanded slap us
and we believed em
did everything to create some sort of distance
in between em
the souls of our sneaks and the hot pavement beneath
anything just to bring us a lil closer to heaven
as if 18 inches was the next best thing to ascension
in a life full of question
with answers camouflaged in every look of lust
never knowing who to really trust
so we stay strapped and we stay trapped
cycles full of sin
they trying to sift out our backs
or compromise our integrity
and in every choice there awaits a greater casualty
black Jesus pieces and pinkie rings
over sized white tees
and r.i.p.’s
the streets is calling me
or they might as well be
I’m a single mother raising two sons
who could potentially be toting two guns
in less then five years from where i stand today
and in less then four years my delivery would change in pace
cause I’m trying to catch up with 3 years fast forward in time
when in just two they height will match mine
zoom in focus to my life right now
smack dead in the face to what i write right now
if i could only make the streets seem less sweet
if i could only place a tear at their feet for every victim at least id have the hopes to sway them
with currents that run deep enough
sweep them with stories of misplaced trust
waves of lost love
and seasons that my body wont forget
how every year in late September, October the breeze can blow and
i forced to remember when
i loved him
and i lost him
all i got to give is the sweat off my brow
is the tears when they fall
all i got to give
is my everything, knowing i still could lose my everything.
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Liza Garza on HBO Def Poetry Performs “My Everything” without what has been referred to as “edits”…
Liza Garza is a rare soul. As a poet and vocalist, she possesses the uncommon ability to keep listeners captivated while provoking social change and action in the community. Her words simultaneously whisper power and strength; peace and grace. A graduate of the University of Michigan, where she formulated her own degree in Performance Activism, Liza published her first book of poetry, You Never Knew Until I Spoke in 2005 and started 2006 with an Emmy Award nomination for a piece she wrote promoting university enrollment.
During that same year, Liza caught the attention of HBO producers and was invited to perform on ‘Russell Simmons Presents Def Poetry’. Born and raised in Flint, Michigan—a city most famous for its murder rate—Liza, a single mother of two young boys, used her experiences to pen her debut album ‘BloomBeautiful’. The release, a tapestry of poems, ballads and songs reminiscent of Mexican folk tunes, is gracefully infused with the spirit of hip-hop, a culture she claims whole-heartedly. Showing no signs of surrender in an art form overrun with machismo, Liza has remained humble and resolute in using her gift to teach, learn, inspire and be inspired. It is this determining spirit that influenced Rev.
Jesse L. Jackson to invite her to perform along side Stevie Wonder and Roberta Flack at the Rainbow/ PUSH Coalition’s national march. When asked about what she has accomplished, Liza is genuinely puzzled. “There is so much work to be done for the people,” she replies.
“I haven’t even begun.”
