Poem: Copacetic (When You're Practicing Inner Peace)

This is a poetic keynote by Venus Love Jones that highlights her lived experiences. She strives to continue to experience Copacetic Living: The term 'copacetic' is more than just a catchy word; it embodies a philosophy of life that promotes acceptance and tranquility. Venus explains that the word, which originated during the Great Depression among Black Americans, represents a state of being where some people are not easily ruffled and they look for silver linings often. It suggests that our perspective and framing of life events can indeed determine our mindset. This doesn't mean we are to ignore problems as they arise. However, it can alleviate any unnecessary stress.

Transcript

Have you ever felt like you're worrying a lot, You are stressed out and overthinking it? I've been there. Well, I want to share this poem with you because it is a way to choose peace in a chaotic world and it is to trust and to believe in divine order. When you do that, It means that you are living a copacetic life. Some people pronounce the word copacetic, However, It is spelled in different ways, C-O-P-A-S-E-T-I-C, C-O-P-A-C-E-T-I-C, I think, Either way. It's copacetic, Whether I'm spelling it right or not, You see what I mean? That's how it works. It means that you cannot make a mistake. Now, This is a belief that many of us struggle with. I know after many performances, I can overthink it. I can not trust that what I said was supposed to be said and that there is no such thing as good and bad and we've heard that these are Western concepts, But sometimes it's still hard to wrap our head around it, Right? Well, The word copacetic actually was developed during the Depression era in the United States by black Americans and some of the coolest cats around, They would love to say this word, Copacetic is copacetic, You know? And I find it interesting that this poem was a poem that I needed, But I didn't know what I was going to write. Dr. Reverend Leon Lowry, He asked me to write this poem. There's a school named after him and he was a civil rights leader. He even taught Martin Luther King. Without any further ado, I'm going to tell you more about my life. When I was five, My first grade teacher knew I was all the way live and energetic. So when others napped, I assisted with snacks and it was completely copacetic. When I was seven, They put me in a play and I was a black pilgrim, Smiling, Unapologetic. I was standing right next to a white Indian and it was completely copacetic. Well, When I was nine, I broke my left wrist and my teacher seemed a little empathetic. Show must go on. I was Dorothy, Even though I resembled someone with a prosthetic. She said, Pretend your arm got hurt in the twister and it looks completely copacetic. In the sixth grade, I transferred to a new school and I was instantly magnetic. They wanted to fight over my friendship and I thought, Now this is completely copacetic. The seventh and eighth grade, I can't remember, So they must have been pretty pathetic. I do remember puberty hit and I became synthetic. You can find me stuffing my bra because you know fat tissue is not genetic. I went to 11 schools as a kid. Movie left an aftertaste, Like the acidic. Eventually, I earned my college degree, Mastering radio and TV like the kinetic. And the moral of the story is, Everything will meet your satisfaction if you choose to let it. You begin to expect something good, No matter the challenge. You never split it and that's when you know you're living life like everything is everything. And it will always be completely copacetic.