Adventures in Po-e-try

Here's a little ditty that sort of spilled onto the page a couple days ago:

26 years ago today, a child was born
in the same way
3 years from now, a stranger will die
down the block from the ribbon cutting of a brand new business
hours before the wedding bells chime
they will sound like angels welcoming home
the first baby to be aborted that day
there will be birthday cake
and wishing on stars
trips to the cemetery
then to the synagogue
shoulder of the highway to place fresh flowers near a cross
then on to a festival of light and music
to conjure a storm from the folly of time
we dance
the world over in celebration
of these moments no one else will consider sacred
but we hold them like candles
to commemorate a lifetime worthy of passing by
“happy anniversary,” we say
or “birthday”
“congratulations”
“i miss him still”
we offer hugs and handshakes
violent tears
to some presents
others presence
and silence
i wonder the stories
that could fill this room
about this day many years ago
about how it rocked us away from the person we always thought we would become
and slowly began molding us into the someone we are now
let’s mark this moment
as the one we realize everyone is guilty
of forcing memories quiet into the camouflage of their skin
as if this world were only hungry for the lie of happy endings
let us celebrate
the love and loss that crumbles us like mountains
take heart in knowing someone else is celebrating too
even if it looks like mourning
the world over with grieve with you

---

I don't have any real commentary on the piece, except to say that I like it - all obvious errors in form and content notwithstanding. Also as of yet there's no title...mainly because I suck at them. Our good friend Kholi has a version of this  piece that you should check out here, and then be sure to check out all the other iMagnificence that she's got happening over yonder.

Also - school is back in full swing, so be on the look out for my upbeat postings concerning the current state of education, examples of high-quality parenting, and bright future of our world...(is it too early for sarcasm?)

Peace Be

Adventures in NPS 2011 (Part 4)

So.

Few things hurt worse than the pain of having something be in reach...to utterly impossible in a matter of minutes. Piedmont finishes Nats tonight with a ranking somewhere in the 30s I think; wasn't able to calculate it precisely because of the bouts haven't been officially posted it yet. Definitely sucks that it was my score that took us out of the running. Definitely sucks that I got the lowest score of the entire bout that night.

But it was also a humbling experience...which was needed because I have been behaving as though I'm the big fish on the team. Praise God that the humbling experience didn't involve me going completley blank on stage or any other horror story that I'll have to replay in my mind later on. This is just me - making sure that I remember the points is the po-e-try, not the po-et, and that I should stop throwing my weight around like everything I slam is golden [side note: just re-read yesterday's post....sad face to me....wow]. AND a couple other lessons I think, but I can hear the sappy end-credit music swelling in the background, and so I have to step off of this particular soapbox.

What else? Maybe tomorrow I'll get to actually see some of the city. I'm down for being a tourist until I go cheer like a crazy person at the semi finals.

Peace Be

Adventures in NPS 2011 (Part 3)

So.

The first bout was going great. Great like E and Kross won their round. Great like, I tied with the other high scoring poet in my round. Great like E won her indie round. Great like we were up by a full point.....and then the last homie got a time penalty. And we took the 2. I know that the points are not the point....but I was mad I could hardly see straight. At time penalty?! That's a mistake for rookies at regionals...ESPECIALLY...when your piece is 20 seconds longer than it needs to be because you feel the need to sing AND do a dedication in the beginning. Come on sir. This is not your home venue. Poetry is "for the people" during the day events this week; when you get on stage at night, I need you to coms e to win.

That's right.

Angry post.

Peace Be

Adventures in NPS 2011 (Part 2)

So.

Today was the first official day of Nats...and I'm sincerely hoping that it is not an indication of how the rest of the week is going to go. We missed the haiku death match prelims,  missed the workshop with Patricia Smith, the bout we really wanted to see was at capacity and not letting people in, the second choice bout was at capacity, walked in the rain to the third choice....you guessed it - at capacity, and so we just left. Hopped the train back to Emmanuel, and of course by "hopped" I mean, got completely turned around and had an unpleasant run in with one of the attendants before successfully locating the correct path home. Sigh.

But this post is not about that. This post is about being...concerned.

So of course I'm pretty much completely broke [side note: medicine is hella expensive] and checked my bank account several times to try to work out a way to you know...eat here in Bean Town and still survive when I make it back to the Dash. I made a pretty strict budget for myself, and made a note of what the consequence of not following that budget would be. But today I literally could not stop myself from buying extras. Like...the impulse to get things immediately and keep spending until there is nothing left is starting to overpower my rationale - to the point that I was getting visibly anxious and couldn't breathe in this one spot where I wanted to buy a shirt and was trying to talk myself out of it. Even now the back of my mind is racing with all of things I want to buy tomorrow so much so that I want to get dressed and see what shops are open. My teammate is going back out tonight to see our coach compete in the Slam Master's Slam, but I'm going to stay in. I even put on my PJ's.

Good news - No smoking thus far.
Bad news - Sam Adams is sponsoring an open bar for the after party on Saturday. That's going to be challenging.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better. I'm hoping that much of the stress and pressure to buy things was brought on by the curve balls that the day threw at us. Because of them however, we have better learned to navigate the city and know how early to show up to the tiny venues if we want seats...so there wont' be quite as much of it tomorrow. Plus - I finally get to hit the stage...which I've been itching to do since we landed. I plan to go...all the way in.

Peace Be

Adventers in NPS 2011 (Part 1)

So.

We've arrived here in Boston, and after taking a bus, two trains, and walking about a mile, we've arrived here at lovely Emmanuel, where we will be staying for the duration of the trip. Very excited to say that Bull City will be here with this tomorrow, which will lead to some interesting times post-poeting in the evening. Also excited to say that we have no bouts later on today....E and LB are competing in the haiku death match; Ish is taking on the Slam Masters' Slam in the evening....but nothing "official". It will be good to have the day off after the stress of travel.

My temper is trying to get the best of me....I'm having very little patience for two of my teammates and the tag-along-girlfriend of one of the teammates...but at the moment I'm going to attribute it to the lateness of the hour, and hope that tomorrow, after a good night's sleep and a little time with Jesus, that I'll be more patient.

That's all the update I can muster for the moment. Perhaps tomorrow, I can provide something a little more insightful .

Peace Be