Peace, Gratitude, Respect!

OGT 25 began here in Ithaca, NY, on March 21st—one week beyond my 80th SoulDay. “OGT” stands for OctoGenarian (8th Generation) Tour, a journey through sound, spirit, and sacred engagement. 

Now that we’ve completed the Ithaca leg of the tour, it’s on to Boston, Framingham, and then Cleveland. Your generous support makes this journey possible. Please give what you can! Share with friends, family, and on your social media. The 2025 first phase closes at the end of May. Then we head West.

The tour is a call. A gathering. An essential reconnection of Poetz, musicians, and artivists—a sonic-lyrical current threading the past into the now. The times echo history’s rhythms, yet today, class warfare walks with no disguise. The assault on Afrikans, migrants, and Trans communities is calculated—an attempt to fracture, instill fear, and distract as wealth as the public treasury is looted.

Yet, Poetz and cultural workers stand firm—rooted in the People’s Arts, wielding words as tools of awakening. Why? Because transformation begins with language. The Poetz deconstruct and reconstruct language to shape the consciousness necessary for liberation.

These pain days are sharpening us. They’re a time to hone our senses, to see beyond the veil, to move beyond the imagined limits of our vision. We are not bound by this moment—we are architects of the future.

Know this: we are playing the long game. Our sight, however limited, is a sacred gift. Entrained by Ancestors, we are being guided along our destined path.

This tour is but one of many dufuna[1] canoes upon Life’s sacred river. As a Hopi Elder has spoken:

There is a river flowing now very fast.  It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid. They will try to hold on to the shore. They will feel they are torn apart and will suffer greatly.  

Know the river has its destination.  The elders say we must let go of the shore, push off into the middle of the river, keep our eyes open, and our heads above water. And I say, see who is in there with you and celebrate. At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally, Least of all ourselves. For the moment that we do,  our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.  

The time for the lone wolf is over. Gather yourselves!  Banish the word struggle from your attitude and your vocabulary. All that we do now must be done in a sacred manner and in celebration. 

We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

—An unnamed Hopi Nation Elder, Oraibi, Arizona

[1] The 8,000-year-old Dufuna canoe is the world’s second-oldest known boat. It is a dugout canoe discovered in 1987 by a Fulani cattle herdsman a few kilometers from the village of Dufuna in the Fune Local Government Area, not far from the Komadugu Gana River, in Yobe State, Nigeria.