How ‘Summertime’s’ young L.A. poets transformed ‘Raya’s’ Carlos López Estrada

Spoken word poetry transmits messages through a singular language: deft prose molded into a visceral performance by rhythm, intonation and physicality. The delivery turns words into daggers of truth, for soul-searching or external confrontation.

In the spring of 2019, this potent conduit for liberating one’s innermost struggles and yearnings worked itself in the psyche of Carlos López Estrada. The Mexican-born director behind the indie breakthrough “Blindspotting” and this year’s Disney release, “Raya and the Last Dragon,” attended a showcase of young poets from across Los Angeles at Get Lit — Words Ignite, a nonprofit in Koreatown founded by Diane Luby Lane to promote literacy through self-expression.

Read more at the Los Angeles Times.