Like Water, Like Son

This is a poem that I recently performed at a charity event raising money for an orphanage in North-Western Thailand. The story behind the poem can be found here. The video is of the actual performance, it's not without its flaws, there are a handful of tiny changes I would make if I could do it again, but overall I'm pretty happy with it, so check it out, lemme know what you think! And the words are down below.  PEACE! 

Like Water, Like Son 

       
We have to be more careful
with this power that we wield
over every living child
whose fate has not been sealed
whose life still has a purpose
that has yet to be revealed
We have to warn them of the darkest parts
and be their human shields
teach them all about the world
and the greed that it instills
show them there’s two sides to life
and each and every thrill
Cuz kids are like cups
just waiting to be filled
you should know that every drop
you put in is gonna build
a bridge to this feeling
a link to some sensation
in no time they will be reeling
between peace and titillation
with no idea that life is stealing
the most Pristine Natural Formation…

The Mind of an Innocent Being

…free from fear’s indoctrination

Free from that persistent feeling
that we live in suffocation
free to feel their own souls breathing
without the heat of condemnation
free to know the healing powers
of their childish elation
Free to Be a Human Being…

before the bullshit’s saturation

before the mind hits maturation

and they don’t believe in anything
besides success and masturbation
at the expense of everything

…the world’s bastardization

We don’t talk to children enough
we still don’t talk to our kids about love or sex
we don’t talk to our teens about rape
we don’t talk to our sons about arrogance
we don’t talk to our daughters about strength
like we don’t want them to know how strong they could be

we hardly ever explain why we do what we do
like they don’t need to know…like we don’t even know
like there’s no meaning in any of it

Our denial
Our fear-laden inability to be honest with ourselves stops us
from being honest with them

about the most important things

our weaknesses throughout life
our struggle within
our regrets
and all those fears
that we couldn’t even put into words until our early twenties

…and so the weaknesses of the father are visited upon the son
over and over again

I see it all the time
I know a father who has never acknowledged the scars on his own daughter’s wrists
I know a father who has never spoken the word love to any of his children
I know a mother who has never talked to her son about why he ran away from home
…like it never happened, even though it changed everything

How can we protect em if we lie to ourselves
How can we prepare them for reality, when we can’t even face it

We have to be more honest with them
about what we believe and what we’ve learned
and what we have no fucking clue about
before they miss the point of all of this
so caught up in what they’re “supposed to do”
and they think what they have on the outside
is more important than what’s in here

Let’s be a little more aware
of this cycle that exists
of the echoes it puts out
and the way that it can twist
every thing we never say
into tiny catalysts
that cause our kids
to think it’s normal
to solve problems with their fists
to live a life that’s nothing more
than a number on a list
and distrust every single difference
til no one can coexist

We’re like water,
WE’RE LIKE WATER
you can treat this like a fact
because whatever you put in
I promise you will get it back

we’re like water, we’re like water
and kids are the clearest springs
and whatever WE put in them
is what the future brings

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Montecristo Poem Preface

Okay, umm, I'm not sure how I wanna do this. Lately I've been doin that thing where I put the poem in one post and the story behind it in another...guess I like that, but I'm not sure if there's that much to say. But...knowing my fingers, I'll type that now and five paragraphs will still magically follow. We'll see.

So last night was pretty awesome. If I were a pornstar and saying that, you'd know this blog post would be some damn good reading material, but since I am just "The Poet," you are more than welcome to skip down to the bottom and click on the link to take you to THE POEM. This is just for me and my friends back home who don't know what the hell I'm doin. And anyone else who might be curious. But yes, last night, AWESOME. Times like...TWENTY I would say.

(photo: sergio del amo)

Another opportunity to perform some performance poetry at BED FREAKIN SUPPERCLUB befell upon me. For those of you that don't know, Bed Supperclub is this really awesome club/venue in this city. The word "Premier" definitely comes to mind. And I got to take the mic and sling some verse like it ain't no thang, even though it TOTALLY Is a "Thang." Like a really awesome thing! And I went HARD too. Last time was all jokes and boobies, this time I was grabbin people by the ears a bit. I say a bit cuz I can definitely drop more serious verse than this, but for a lot of these people never seein me before, this was probably pretty heavy. I'm pretty sure Bed is a stranger to slam poetry, but I am doing my best to acquaint it VERY well :)). And I did it allllright! Couple little mistakes in there, but...no biggie. The people were very gracious and receptive. I was kinda nervous, I think it gets a little easier every time, so the nerves didn't entirely get to me, but fuck...it was a cool little crowd of people and I was in the dead center of it all and the first one to get their attention! Phew, what an experience! It lit me up. 

(photo: madebytommy)

Anyway, this opportunity I think was directly related to the Breast Cancer event, cuz it was after that that the man behind last night talked to me about doin somethin for his event (Montecristo). I was like HOLLLAAAA! Especially cuz it's a cause/charity that I was well familiar with since another friend put together a fundraiser for it (Change for Siam) at the beginning of the year and clued us all in. The foundation is called Future Light and it's basically one orphanage housing about 40 kids/refugees near the Thai-Burmese border. And this whole thing was set up a few years ago by a then 25 year-old woman whom we shall call J. Lo. Because that's her name. Okay, her name is Jennifer Lo, but...same difference! And WAY cooler. Despite not having all the latin flavor/booty we've come to associate with that name. But since she's helpin orphans n' all, we'll let her roll with it. ;)

(boom shakalaka! look at all that booty! ;-)

So yeah, one of the guys behind Bed Supper (Junior) has been involved in the foundation, wanted to do his fair share, and put together a pretty damn cool event to raise money and goods for the kids. He asked me to write something for it, I said I'd be happy to, and from that moment knew what I wanted to do, cuz I already had this little nugget (about 5 lines) about kids, just sittin in my notes, waitin for me to manifest the rest of it and make it whole. (Bet you can't guess which fives lines it was :p) Once he told me the deal, I got all excited, pulled out the chunk and started willing it to grow. It happened pretty easily. Finished it about a week ago, plenty of time to practice it and get it down, and last night I opened the event with it. And this time I was even smart enough to bring my own video camera and have someone film it for me. Wooflippinhoo!


And like I said, it went well. I probably could've done it little better (just bein honest), but nobody expects me to be perfect but me, so...it's all good! Thanks to everybody who was there last night, thanks again to Junior and Jen for...lots of things, so I guess I'll just say for being awesome (awwwww, that's nice ;). I would say thanks to ALL my friends who came but only like one of you did! Lol, smh, I mean, I didn't invite many, but still...no points for you :p. But yeah, thanks for readin, and bein there "in spirit." *eye roll* ;) (Don't worry people who don't know me, I'm totally allowed to give my friends shit, we're cool like that. :D)

Hey, guess what, I'm gonna end this differently! This poem is pretty crazy. In terms of poetry, it's very liberal (#nopolitico) and crazy in its structure. Basically it's another one of my Frankenstein's Monsters of a poem, just somethin I threw together with complete freedom but felt fit together and was able to bring to life. Throughout the process of writing it (which maybe someday I'll elaborate upon), there came a handful of pieces that didn't make it in to the actual poem. They just didn't work or didn't flow well, but were still born of the same inspirational stardust. I'm gonna end this blog with those scraps. Why not. I may use em someday, I may not, I never know. But if you read this far, then you might as well get some little tidbits of poetry from "Behind the scenes." (Oh yeah, don't you feel cooler now? You know stuff other people probably don't know. ;) And I say good for you!

As always, thanks for joinin me on this journey, friends and neighbors. This year has been the best year of my life. This is just one more reason and one more piece of proof showing that. I hope you can see it, cuz it's pretty frickin cool where I'm sitting.

...dreams are coming true.

Cheers!

_________________________________________________________________

the human race is like an ocean
but you would never know it
so many imaginary lines
on the surface and far below it

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
we have to teach them better
and show them there’s a better way
mind body, heart and soul
should have an equal say

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
...and every bomb gives birth to 20 terrorists

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
as it is we’ve given most the heart to the women
and most the body to men
and now they’re both fighting over the mind
while the soul sits off to the side, watching
goin “what the fuck is happening?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
We protect them from the wrong things
when we “protect” them from those truths

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
every kid that learns is much less likely
to kill or to be killed

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

And finally, the actual poem: Like Water, Like Son. Enjoy.