Stop. Don't Move. Back Away....Slowly.

The title is very ify. Since I am deleting my facebook, I am posting probably the last poem I'll be putting on the internet (for a long time) here. ENJOY...but only if you want to, NO PRESSURE!

Stop.
I wrote a poem for you today
Strictly for children,
Finding out that Santa Claus is the imaginary friend all parents made up
Wanting their kids to still believe in them
after they find out that mom and dad are only human

For the Martin and Malcolm X fighting in us all
For the I Do’s that the government refuses to acknowledge
For the (G in) gods too unholy to be capitalized
or the last four weeks of the year
when your calendar screams notes about culture
But your school rips that away replacing your belief systems
with two ambiguous words; “Winter Break”
The poem is for the accents to heavy to be American

For the free writes too honest to be read
For every dope piece that never makes it out of semis
Especially the poems still caught between the pages in our notebooks

This was written to the 12th grade boy still struggling to learn how to read
The homeless couple in downtown San Francisco
Making immortal flowers for the random passerby, loose change
simply because it makes them happy
and everyone else like them
It’s dedicated to the 22 year virgin

For the runaways with bloody noses and the nomads who super glued “home”
onto the insoles of their shoes
For the exotic dancer who does it because she chooses to
For the bigots who hate themselves
For all the run on sentences in this poem thus far
For all the mental hospitals full of sane people
For all the young poets who will never experience BNV
For the foreheads that receive too many kisses that feel like apologies
For every Freedom Rider that if given the chance –wouldn’t hesitate to do it again
Everyone causing a RUHCUS in their community
All the bisexuals who are mistakenly labeled indecisive
For the entire social network full of feigns who constantly activate
then deactivate
And activate
and deactivate,
just to reactivate their Facebook pages like light switches
For the fools still waiting on the Revolution to be Televised
For the listeners who know that Lil’B is just the opening act for the real talent of good music
For the boys who really think Michael Jackson is their father
For the girls who believe child birth is the everyday miracle
For every dragon who was trained to breathing fire
--Even the agnostics who are too disappointed to pray
All the stalkers struggling to keep to themselves
This poem is for the Alcoholics who go to bars and drink pop
Just to prove they are real men

For the foreigners who were tricked into believing they’d actually be free here
For the hoarders give their stuff away
All the rapists looking for redemption
To the young adults tongue twisted trying to learn another language
--anything to get closer to other people
For the countries that commit hara-kiri because they could not see their own demise
The child soldiers who will never live to see their 10th birthday
Every peaceful sit-in that turned fatal

There is a poem out there for you
Written in domesticated blood

Between you and I
Who is going to tell Gandhi that he failed?
Which one of you is going to explain to dead textbook heroes
why their spilled blood was in vein?

We are walking to the instrumentals of tribute poems and silent idealism
Filling our time with powerful speeches about our history
Only to let them fall out of our minds when we need more room for video game cheats
and one liners from movies that carry no substance


All of us are stomping to the same song
Tap dancing to Global malfunction
But some of us don’t have rhythm
The movements are too different
Even in unison we are segregated
As many continue to stampede to this track on repeat
Not even realizing you are racing to your own graves
With so many bodies
There won’t be any breath left in our lungs
To sigh for you
To grieve at your funerals

Mother Nature will be excited to know that her children
Are anxious to be back insider her
Shoved into her soil
Seeking to be grounded
Like penguins staring at all the other birds that can actually fly
Start the cycle over
(You know what they say;) “History always repeats itself”
Maybe the reason we destroy ourselves
Is so the future generations can learn from us

I wanted to recite this poem to you
Loud enough to get you to stop moving
Believing those martyrs found solace in the echoes of the legend in their names
Because we were all going somewhere
It used to be in the same direction

Let’s to spark a coup d’état
We should not move
In fact,
We should just stop
Until we can get a new beat to march to

Band-Aids

I plan on providing you guys with videos that helped me write dope poetry or just simply entertained my poetic ear. This poem is mine. Dragon Inc. had a 6-part slam series and I performed this poem not too longer after I wrote it. There is a fine line between Art imitating Life and Art and life being synonymous. So here's an inside look at mind...well kinda.

Brave New Voices: 7 Minute Drill

I think it's important to take the things that you learn and apply to whatever you can and share it with other people. So I made up this writing prompt. It is a composite drill from things that I like. So I hope you take something from this...enjoy.

Supply List:

1. List 3 normal bodily functions
(ex. coughing, the infamous #2 etc.)

2. 2 words you use in your everyday vernacular

3. Find one inanimate object in the room

Instructions
Personify #3
trying/wanting/or wishing to be able to #1
Use #2 sometime in the poem. Try to make the inanimate object as real/human/live as possible.


**Words of Encouragement**
You should try it. I'm sure if I knew/know you personally I'd believe in you. I think it's fun and you will allow 7 minutes of writing to change your life. If you like what you wrote; Write for 7 more minutes. HAVE FUN :)

Brave New Voices 2011 **Update**

So this year I had the privilage to attend BNV. The 15 year anniversary of the youth poetry festival. I was able to meet a lot more teams than I did last year. I would greatly recommend that everyone interested should attend Brave New Voices at least twice; once as a competitor and another a somewhat fly on a wall. If you weren't slamming it was really a giant extended party the entire time. I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

Knowing that there are tons of people in the world who are just as creative and weird as I am. So I wrote this poem for my experience this year. And anyone else who has been able to make me feel/believe that I am not myself in my free train of thought.
(I intend on fleshing out this poem)


BNV SERIES: Episode One


Part I:
We've been looking for each other
Writing poems about finding ourselves
Being lost is appropriate when you’re 17…or 20
When everything you believed in was paused for commercials
And revolutions don’t exist because you have college
and the real world to prepare yourself for
not for change
Change is just something you say when you need
to get over the short term hurdles of everyday
So you stop writing
Stop thinking about anything outside of the destinies your current class has padlocked you in
Completely ignoring the ringing in your head
You know it’s a poem
Or an idea
But no one understands you
How could they?
You are this demigod trapped in this censored body
With the children’s crusade wrestling inside it
you find yourself roaming
Stumble upon this party of mirrors
A college campus full of people like you
Who have fallen victim to the fairytales of art in their heads
They know that they’re crazy
Little freaks with deep concepts for conversation
And alliterations for rants
You think “I can die now”
Someone else in this world understands
A summit at the Tower of Babel of Words
And they get me
However you begin to remember
How endings always happen at the beginning of happiness
It’s only a matter of time before you are misinterpreted (again)
Looking for yourself in Vacaville, or Minnesota
or someplace where people cut short the extension cords to our extended metaphors because they don’t get what we are trying to say
the tyranny of average men with computers for hearts
Old fashioned small minded opinions for ears
And outdated recycled parables for advice
You say goodbye
Promise yourself that you’ll never stop writing
No matter how wrong you are accused of being
Riding home
Uploading photos on Facebook
and videos on Youtube
You know you’re losing yourself
You know that inspiration to change the world is dwindling
The moment you claim your bags
And see the first person that can’t possibly get how you’re life has been evolved
So you look them in the eyes
Try to find yourself in their pupils
And once you see it
Hold on to it
Go over time
Revolutions don’t acknowledge time penalties anyways

**Amber ALERT**

So I was happy to announce that I finally decided to suck it up and go through with making a chapbook.
I've had the title picked out for a while. I notice that when it comes to group photos or something involving everyone getting their individual photo op attention. I usually op out and give a picture of my name tag. Or maybe just a photo of my glasses.
Then it hit me. I don't like certain types of attention!
So...*drum roll* That One Chapbook From That One Girl

Sadly, I have lost my flashdrive. Oh...dear Flashy....where for art thou?
It has my chapbook, my fliers, the cover, my ideas, the only copy of special poems, graphic projects...everything. The only thing that isn't on there is the Bible and that's only because there are websites for that.

So...because I have not found it yet. I will not be selling my chapbook. And I probably won't be posting any of those new poems that were in there. Yeah....depressions gets a person like that sometimes.

And now, I've lost interest in writing this blog...so, maybe next ime.

Flashbacks Writing Prompt #1

It's been awhile since I've posted anything. I've gone through so many transitions in poetry. From the groups and teams I've been apart of to falling in and out of love with my own words.

But I'm back. I'm kind of using poetry excessively right now to get me through this rough patch. But my words understand. At least I hope they do.

Well enough with the sappy talk let's get into the poetry.

This one is called....hmmm....i got it!
Flashbacks

Prep Work:
Your favorite word when you were little. (even if it's a bad word that's alright)
Think of the first time you ever used that word.
Who heard you say it?
How did you feel? (try using only intangible things to describe this)
What was the strongest smell back in that time frame?
Do things still trigger that memory?

Experiment Time
Thing of a mundane time of the day
Try incorporating a frame narrative into this moment.
Let 5 things you do today trigger a past moment
(Frame Narrative: Is a story within a story)
Title the poem your favorite word
use only your triggers to describe that moment.
See what you come up with..

I'm gonna try it too!

Maybe one day someone will actually read these....;)

What Are Ghostlines????

Ghostlines are inspirational lines that help you write poems. That don't necessarily appear in the poem itself.

To clear up some confusion. I have comprised a list of ghostlines that my friends and I have either used from songs/poems/poets or ghostlines that we have written ourselves...so I hope this helps ♥

1. A light finds a shadow on my shoulder
2. Victims can be guilty too
3. The earth fell once
4. They told us we were not losing
5. My vagina is not your walk-in closet
6. God gave us free will as a punishment
7. If stars becomes black holes, where do they go?
8. Romantically kissing the ground like it's the last lover you'll ever have
9. Don't we all always want all eyes on us?
10. I'm so deep, the wind.
11. Good. Pay them no attention
12. I arch my back in attempt to flex my wings
13. those lady parts will never know what beauty is
14. Strangers By Association
15. I have forgotten that I was royalty
16. You’ll be my secret 8 ball
17. Band aids are halos...on fire
18. Baby it's raining...


Ghostlines are courtesy of the following:
Arianna McCall, Siaara Freeman, Phoenix Clouden, Eric Odum, Sean Medlin, Jesica Blanden, Rafael Casal, Ricky, Dorrian Hawkins, Tom Noy, Beau Sia, Julia Jones, Alysia Harris, Kisha Foster, Blaire Bommer, Alexis Marie