Even Green Lands, Have a Past | Freewrite

"As I get a little older, I realize life is perspective...and my perspective may differ from yours." - Kendrick Lamar

One of my favorite self-care acts is watching a TV show or feature film, some of which I didn't get to see growing up in their entirety or at all. Far as shows go it had been between Sword Art Online, Teen Titans, Better Call Saul, the new Shaman King on Netflix, Cobra Kai, House, Person of Interest, to name some off the top. But the show that had tooken up most of my time at the time, outside of Teen Titans, was Samurai Jack.

In the early Toonami days I rarely got a chance to see a full episode of the show for whatever reason. However it seemed interesting to me, and at some point I wanted to watch at least an episode from start to finish. I didn't know it was created by the same people who made Powerpuff Girls and Dexter's Laboratory. Cartoons I'd watch obsessively on Cartoon Network years prior. It wasn't until 2003 with the airing of Star Wars: Clone Wars that I was acquainted to the aforementioned series legacy. As creator Genndy Tartakovsky including Bryan Andrews and Paul Rudish of whom stick to memory were chosen by George Lucas to take on the task of making what is now a Star Wars Legends favorite among fans, which was heavily reminiscent of animation style of a famous samurai from the past now plunged into the future out to save the world.

Fast-forward a near two years from now, I have an afternoon to enjoy myself before I go out and take on the day. Needless to say, I'm all-in to the show! The fast paced action, frame by frame cuts, action moves, and humor, I quickly understood why I enjoyed so much the miniseries and their prior works that I was hip to. Then I get to Episode XIX, a mostly non-verbal slow flowing storytelling checkpoint in the season, added another level of respect as a fan and artist for this already amazing saga. To see how each scene was positioned to show what seemed beautiful to me on screen was a heartbreaking revelation for the main character, moved me. It moved me enough to hit the pause button, write about it in that moment, and this poem came from it. I really appreciate films and shows that create a narrative in my head, getting my brain to cook up it's own scenarios and ideas that can add to the story. This was the first time I wrote like that in awhile.

This piece was only intended for my own enjoyment, but in making it to my home open mic spot after work on a Friday, Hit the Mic Cincy, in the realm of my poetry family, I felt right as rain in sharing it. It just so happened that particular poetry night was a feature night for Poet/Rapper/Singer Poetiic of Dayton, Ohio in support of her The Paradigm Shift Tour. Her Photographer/Videographer, Inversed Poet, was also filming the entire event, and was gracious enough to send me a cut of my performance. Because of that, I feel inclined to share it as well.

Both the live performance and what is written here is not the original text of the lyrics, as I was feeling my way through the performance, and the mini book where I wrote the poem had gained water damage. Therefore in transcribing process, I was encouraged to do some editing. But whichever medium you that consume this piece, I hope just like the episode did for me, that you feel something as well.

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This beautiful place is a barren space,

home no more for the ill returns but ferns and green pastures

housing this land once tall as white skies declined in to half more than its momentous peak,

feets once danced and advanced on fine pavement, paved with seas of foliage,

Drowning with the best of petals of many trees which rose to blossom in the spring,

not a sign or presence of the former erected ever seem to be-

Here, in this wondrous realm I helm as calm and inviting,

yet igniting, the bomb in the mind of who beside me once knew this dense hell as their bustling heaven

His inferno is my nirvana, the beauty I see that brings quiet waterfalls and rushing rivers

Compares maybe none to the loss he sees, visions of past interactions with the cobblestone roads,

the bell of the town, craftsmanship of neighboring buildings, and a flow of civilization

never to be experienced by me, only for him to repeat in horror, in grief, and in eyes well beyond dry

I, stand at the steep of paradise, as his knees collapse to the gravity that once was...is now forgotten for others,

and no amount of consoling I wish to give unto him could ever suffice to the unwavering fact that we now realize:

His home is gone.

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Even Green Lands, Have a Past by SoL

Performance was STAYonLIT

Lyrics were Composed in SoL

Published via Embold with SoL

Written on Sunday, March 17, 2024 @ 2:20 PM / Edited January 25, 2026 @ 8:33 PM

Inspired by "Episode XIX: Jack Remenbers the Past" from the cartoon series "Samurai Jack" by Genndy Tartakovsky

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MESSAGE FROM THE ARTIST:

This Artistic Piece of Literature is the Sole

Intellectual Property of The Original Author &

Copyright Owner by name of Steven O. Lynn

bka SoL aka Mista STAYonLIT; All Rights Reserved.

*Unless Otherwise Indicated, This Creative Portion

Of This Piece Is The Ownership of The Stated Artist.

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Live Performance at Hit the Mic Cincy on March 22, 2024

Samurai Jack - Jack Remembers the Past (Clip)

A YouTube Review Talking About The Episode That I Liked

Paradigm Shift Tour by Poetiic Interview w/ Inversed Media