The power of the voice in rap is about the expression of truth, rather than the expression of some kind of artifice.

In most of the world, poetry has such a different reputation than it does in Western culture. Poetry is a popular genre in Afghanistan. If you turned on the radio, there would be a poetry program that would be as popular as The Real Housewives. People aren't listening to poetry as if they're taking their vitamins. Instead, it's a popular vessel you can fill with anything. You could fill it with sass. You could fill it with rage. You could fill it with political statements.

The power of the voice in rap is about the expression of truth, rather than the expression of some kind of artifice.

We know what war means, and we know what poverty means. We need to develop a better model for reaching out to the world than we have.

News isn't designed to talk about daily life in its nuances, but poetry is.

If we were to see Western landay poems, we'd see them out of disenfranchised populations, maybe out of the legacy of slavery. Spirituals, rap music - that would be the space we'd find American landays in.

Poetry allows me to write about what I don't know, whereas journalism demands a higher level of certainty to be worthy of being written.