 I've brought my nephew, Mark Haygood, this is a first for us, our first collaboration. I'm proud to say that, Mark, what do you consider yourself? A percussionist? Concert? Any kind. He has been chosen and he's going to be in the Marimba Festival in the East Coast doing theater percussion. So what we're doing today, we have not practiced. I'll let him get set up. But while he gets set up, I'll tell you about some of the notes of this poem. It's a definition poem. It's entitled Funk. And you're gonna, in the poem, hear some references here. James Brown, while commonly referred to as the godfather of soul music, he is described as the progenitor of funk music, which originated in the mid-60s. A mixture of soul music, jazz, and rhythm and blues. Sly Stone. Born Sylvester Stewart is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, a band which played a critical role in the development of soul, funk, rock, and psychedilia in the 60s and the 70s. Lyrics from the song, thank you for letting me be myself again, are sampled in section number one. And last but not least, Donald J. Trump. Donald John Trump was inaugurated as the 45th president of the United States on January 20th, 2017. Screenshots of the president's personal and official Twitter accounts can be found at CNN.com. Funk. Number one, what the funk is funk? Etymology, root, funky, electric music, plucked in interlocking grooves, soul, jazz, rhythm and blues. Makes you want to slither down the dance floor, makes you want to pop like a spinning top. James Brown. Watson's burning. Get up. Get on up. Held up, held down, black jacked, shot to the ground, hit the downbeat, power on the one, without apology. Say it loud. I'm black and I'm proud. Watson's burning. Get up. Get on up. Dance to the rhythm, that funky, funky rhythm. Put some stank on it. Make it funky. Jazz is math. Math is God, my daddy used to say. What is funk? Syncopation on all fours, drum like a ball against the wall, bass guitar equals African drum and drag, sly transformed, funked at the summer of love, boys and a girl, lax in a white, radical, thumping and plunking an entire song, howling horns belted danceable cries. 60s funk was defiance. 60s funk was freedom. 60s funk was swagger. 60s funk was genuine blackness. Looking at the devil, grinning at his gun. Fingers start to shake in. I begin to run. Bullet starts chasing. I begin to stop. We begin to wrestle. I was on the top. Thank you for letting me be myself again. Say, sis, Watson's burning. Get up. Get on up. Gonna dance our way to the promised land. Gotta dance. Number two, unrecognizable odor or attitude, primarily unfavorable, funky as in funky butt or is it funky shoes or maybe fragile like my daddy and his feet. Diabetic sores reappear under gauze. Disneyland's haunted mansion. His holograms mark another phase. Denial like kaleidoscope glass. Elegant pinpricks, really. Simple little hang. King-sized toenail turned into pillow for a blow fly egg's nest. Funky mess. It's his blood pressure. That's the problem, he says. Not the gin and juice. Kidney dialysis prognosis tightening over and under like a ring. A cock ring. Number three, blue funk. Now, a state of nervous depression. Synonyms, funk, type of depression. A mental state characterized by a pessimistic sense of inadequacy and a despondent lack of activity. Effective date, January 20th, 2017, trumped up, tweeted out by the people for the people, blue states in a blue funk. Muslim land wasn't a bluff. Next up, red states, Russian hacking, Russian hugging. Back up the truck. Infected date, January 20th, 2017, one nation under a blue funk. Dodge the pollsters for the funk of it. One nation, we're on the move, but you can't stop it now. A mental state characterized by a pessimistic sense of inadequacy. Tweet one, May 18th, 739 AM, council misspelled. With all of the legal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign and the Obama administration, there was never a special council appointed. Tweet number two, May 18th, 752 AM, history exclamation point. This is the single greatest witch hunt of a politician in American history. A state of nervous depression. Tweet three, May 18th, 1007, a repeat tweet council spelled correctly. With all of the illegal acts that took place in the Clinton campaign and Obama administration, there was never a special council appointed. Blue funk, red muck, go ahead and shake it loose. One nation under a blue groove voted all right for the funk of it. One nation, we're on the move, but you can't stop it now. And his fingers keep tapping and his mouth keeps berating and we're told he's frustrated and we're told he has no patience and we're told about a deep state and we're tossed alternative facts. Reds pretend not to falter, reds pretend not to brood. Senators from the great state of red dawn, what say you? Or in hatch, Republican Utah, that Cochrane, Republican Mississippi, Chuck Grassley, Republican Iowa, Mitch McConnell, Republican Kentucky, Richard Shelby, Republican Alabama, John McCain, Republican Arizona, Jim Monofre, Republican Oklahoma, Pat Roberts, Republican Kansas, Susan Collins, Republican Maine, Mike Enzi, Republican Wyoming, Mike Crapo, Republican Idaho, Lisa Murkowski, Republican Alaska, Lindsey Graham, Lamar Alexander, Richard Burr, John Thune, Johnny Isaacson, Bob Corker, John Barrazzo, Roger Wick, Jim Rich, Idaho, Roy Blunt, Missouri, Jerry Moran, Kansas, Rob Portman, Ohio, John Boosnes, Arkansas, Pat Toomey, Pennsylvania, John Hoven, Marco Rubio, Ron Johnson, Rand Paul, Mike Lee, Dean Heller, Tim Scott, Jeff Flake, Ted Cruz, Deb Fischer, Shelley Moore Capito, Bill Cassidy, Corey Gardner, James Lackford, Tom Cotton, Steve Downs, Mike Rounds, David Perdue, Tom Tillis, Joni Ernst, Ben Sass, Dan Sullivan, Todd Young, John Uli Kennedy, Luther Strange. Your silence is deafening. What is funk? What is funk? What is funk? Thank you.