Kito Fortune
Kito Fortune is one of the best poets in the world. He unleashes rhymes, wordplay, metaphors and dynamic performance, as he invites you into his world through poetry. Although he grew up in Los Angeles, his family is originally from Guyana. He was a member of the poetry slam team at Da Poetry Lounge for three years in a row. Also in 2018 Kito finished in the top twenty of the Individual World Poetry slam. He was the slam champion at Da Poetry Lounge for two years straight. Kito enjoys sports, anime, and video games and his poetry is influenced by his melanin, and his Christianity. Kito uses words to paint a vivid picture of his life.
Interview by CooXooEii Black.
How does your writing change when you write something for the purpose of performance versus writing something for the page?
Because I've always been a performer [writing a book] was probably the most challenging thing as an artist to grow into, believing I could write something for the page. The most significant difference is that you don't get any assistance. The words have to do all the work and whatever is on the page has to bring out all the emotions, whereas if I'm performing and want to put you in a somber mood, I can use my voice to do that. If I want something to be funny, I can laugh while I'm saying it. On the page, the words and the form have to do all the work for you. It would have been different if I started writing first, but I started early as a performer.
I know you do some acting. Do your performances become a type of acting?
Oh Yeah! My first love was drama. I grew up in the church, so at the age of five, I was in the children's choir, and we would perform musicals and plays. I've been acting since then, and that's something I incorporate into my performances. You do, though, want to be authentic in your performance. You don't want to be like oh, and now I cry because it's sad. You have to find a balance between being present in the poem and being aware of your position on stage and drawing the audience in. There's gotta be levels to the performance, voice control, emphasis on certain words, and not just screaming all the time.
Your family is from Guyana, they moved to California, and you went to school in Trinidad. How does place influence your writing?
Being a first-generation immigrant, you realize that you're a Cali kid like everyone else when you're out in the city. When I'm around family, I'm Guyanese down to the food we eat, listening to my dad and his siblings interact, the way we treat each other, and even the way we invite other people in. As far as my writing, to be completely honest, I've always wanted to incorporate more of my culture and place into my writing. Mainly because I started writing while I was in Trinidad. My style of performance and writing has a lot of influence from Trinidad. Having both of those backgrounds have shaped my writing significantly. I get the best of both worlds.
Joy Harjo has a quote where she says, "I believe poet is synonymous with truth-teller" What does this mean to you? What does it mean to you in our current climate?
I think writing poetry forces you to admit things that you wouldn't admit on a regular day. I have a policy that if I'm talking to someone and I'm not ready to catch feelings, I cannot write about them. As soon as you do that, it's over! Because trying to find every possible way you can to talk about this person will draw out some honesty. You might write a line and be like oop, is that how I really feel? I started out by writing just about how I felt. Then I started writing about things outside of me. As an artist, I've learned how to write about those things while including my experience. That's what people connect to. The stories that I tell as an individual, no one else can tell those stories.
You say that you've learned to love yourself through poetry. Can you walk us through that journey?
You could say it's a timing thing. I was involved in many things and never felt like I found my place until I started writing. That happened when I was twenty, and it was a spiritual realization of Oh, this is it. This is the gift that God gave me. I've never been a secretive person. I never lie about who I am, and poetry helped me realize that's where my superpower is. This is how I can make a change in the world and show people who God is. There are all these things about who I am, but this is my medium. These realizations were like looking in the mirror for the first time, and I was like, oh, this is me!
How has your Christian faith influenced your writing?
One of my mentors says that poetry is the closest he feels to God. I think that our creating is our way of bringing life into the world. When I'm creating, I feel close to God because he is also a creator. I'm following his directive to create, influence, and connect with people. I also feel like God is my ghostwriter. There are times when I'm writing, and He'll be like, Hey, remember that poem idea I gave you a few seconds ago? Write it now. And that's just the mode of communication we have with God. As a Christian, I search for ways God can use me to connect to people and to connect Him to people; our job as poets is to create bridges for people. I'm eternally grateful for this gift, to have found it at the time that I did, and the places it has taken me.
I've seen the poetry/music videos you've been posting on IG. What advice do you have for young poets who want to get their words out into the world right now but are just too scared?
They just gotta do it. There was a time, even when I was well established, that I was posting regularly—someone posted a hateful comment. Then I didn't post again for a year. No one knows their poetry is "good" until they get it in front of other people. So if you feel like your ready, then just post it. I have a poem on my youtube channel, around when I first started playing guitar, and I tried to incorporate music into my poetry, but I couldn't play and speak at the same time. I had to speak, pause, look down at my guitar, strum, then look back up to talk. I leave that video up as a reminder of how far I progressed because now I can do that performance pretty well. Everyone has a uniqueness to their voice; they should get it out there but don't sacrifice it for the purpose of getting likes. There's a reason your story is essential.
What kind of projects are you working on now?
I recently did a poetry clash with Pen Clique. I did a poetry clash with a poet from the UK. A clash is different from a slam because it's more competitive and more of a showcase, and there's usually a theme. I'm also trying to get my music onto more platforms like Spotify. By the end of the year, I hope to put out an audiobook [of my book The Zoo]. Follow me on Instagram so you could see all of these projects in the works!
