Spoken word artist Artie Fox performs an original piece titled ‘Malabar, using the metaphor of a mental labyrinth to describe the disorienting experience of living inside an overactive, undiagnosed mind. He closes with a personal address to the audience encouraging self-acceptance and the active pursuit of individual happiness.
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Transcript
[03:09:29] hey
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[03:10:19] I don’t know what her name was, but she was one of the most inspiring things I’ve ever seen in real life.
[03:10:28] I’ve been to concerts with her.
[03:10:36] This piece is called Malabar.
[03:10:39] I’m pretty sure if I go to the hospital and get diagnosed, I’ll probably have something, ADHD, one of those things, I’m not really sure.
[03:10:48] I get lost in my head a lot.
[03:10:50] I think poetry was the first thing I ever did that gave me a space to be.
[03:10:55] I tried a bunch of shit in my life.
[03:10:57] All of it was okay.
[03:10:59] But poetry is the first thing I’ve ever done that I feel like I was born to.
[03:11:03] I really feel like I was here to do it.
[03:11:10] My mind is the only labyrinth I can’t see and lead my way through.
[03:11:15] I’m an amassed array of puzzles
[03:11:17] that advance me.
[03:11:18] I’m in a bad situation.
[03:11:19] I mean, it’s what I do.
[03:11:21] I have a mental ability I think I’ve been gifted with at birth.
[03:11:25] But these long halls and mirror walls only seem to make my insides consistently hurt.
[03:11:33] I mean, a cassock would sing for some.
[03:11:35] But after overindulging for too long, each space seems like a new place I am now, man.
[03:11:39] I even had to come.
[03:11:40] Like sometimes, my mind’s on rewind and I feel like I’m stuck in time.
[03:11:44] Like sometimes, my mind’s on rewind and I feel like I’m stuck in time.
[03:11:47] Like sometimes, my mind’s on rewind and I feel like I’m stuck in time.
[03:11:48] Wait.
[03:11:49] That’s good.
[03:11:50] Is that what it’s called?
[03:11:51] It’s like windows and bird-shaped art.
[03:11:52] It’s like slapstick, flicker, but hardly perfect.
[03:11:53] Not a map nor a floor plan.
[03:11:54] It’s how you figure out my heart.
[03:11:55] These long, drawn halls could make my mind stop moving.
[03:11:56] I mean, the voices of a poet.
[03:11:57] The past echoes me.
[03:11:58] Could be endless.
[03:11:59] Please, insert.
[03:12:00] Please, insert.
[03:12:01] Please, insert.
[03:12:02] I’m more weak.
[03:12:03] The THC fills the airways.
[03:12:04] I can’t get out.
[03:12:05] I’m weak.
[03:12:06] I’m weak.
[03:12:07] I’m weak.
[03:12:08] I’m weak.
[03:12:09] I’m weak.
[03:12:10] I’m weak.
[03:12:11] I’m weak.
[03:12:12] I’m weak.
[03:12:13] I’m weak.
[03:12:17] Yes.
[03:12:18] They just won’t stop.
[03:12:19] The long- averaging cha hooks in my mind, my real emotions, they never manifest.
[03:12:20] Power and negativity seem to have to fill up.
[03:12:21] In those unseen environments right between my heart and soul places, they never fill
[03:12:23] up.
[03:12:24] I mean, circles I walk in.
[03:12:25] But it doesn’t matter, I’ll slow.
[03:12:27] No.
[03:12:28] Cuz sooner or later, I’ll overflow.
[03:12:31] You get into a spot, you finally realize everything that you’ve been going through, you get lost
[03:12:45] and you don’t know.
[03:12:47] when you’re stuck inside against something for so long,
[03:12:50] you realize it’s something you know.
[03:12:54] I mean, everybody praying to get inside these thoughts.
[03:12:57] I mean, I’m still stuck in my labyrinth.
[03:13:01] I’m stuck in my own soul, because I am so ready to go.
[03:13:06] Or, I won’t let go.
[03:13:10] Maybe the way I smile is I’m knowing.
[03:13:13] If you don’t know how hard it is to be in step.
[03:13:17] It’s waiting for the day to come.
[03:13:19] Thank you.
[03:13:28] I’m on Fox everywhere, I’m on YouTube,
[03:13:31] Spotify, all streaming platforms.
[03:13:35] I just seek to push peace and find my own happiness,
[03:13:38] and hopefully that, out of this whole event,
[03:13:41] y’all can just find some peace.
[03:13:42] I know we all got some stuff wrong with us,
[03:13:44] but don’t never let that stuff hold you.
[03:13:46] Be in whoever you is and find out what happiness means to you,
[03:13:50] because it’s your choice, and it’s you who’s happy.
[03:13:54] Okay?
[03:13:54] Woo!
[03:13:55] Wow, thank you.
[03:13:58] Thank you, Artie.
[03:13:59] Artie Fox, everyone.