Poetry?

Slam poetry is a recent fascination of mine. There is a place to see stand-up poetry for free in every one of your towns, probably multiple times a week. It's highly recommended, you hear some incredible shit, and this is not coming from someone who spends their time reading Ginsberg or could confidently tell you what Iambic Pentameter is. SO I got a little into it ("..just tryin to find something real in this world" -outkast), and decided to write my own. It was my first time reading anything personal in front of a crowd, or really taken the stage in life at all. I decided it should be done at the biggest one in Denver, which actually has a stage and a mic. I was rather nervous and my paper was shaking in probably 2 inch oscillations, but that was half the point...

Why I'm Up Here
I'm up here to improve how I make my living. But I don't mean money that I may be given. The greatest art form is a life well lived, and this is a bright red stroke on the piece I'll leave to my kids.

I'm up here because I've put so many balls into goals and holes and pockets that I had to stop it because with each shot hit, I cared less if I dropped it. And lately I feel the thrill of victory every time I write a rhyme that might be the hot shit.

I'm up here because I know one day I'll harvest these emotions and use the fuel to jump start a night. Or a night's sleep. Fuck sheep. I count finished phases of fear and emotional exhaustion when I'm sleep's orphan. Funny that when thought's flow is so deep that sleep won't come cheap, we're told to bring it to the shallows by counting the animal that follows. There's more than one way to rest, and sedation isn't the best. An easy day might be the easy way, but I'm like, I know I'll sleep well tonight.

I'm up here because walking on hot coals strengthens soles.

I'm up here because I've always wanted to penetrate an audience. I want to penetrate life. I want to die knowing that I have sampled every jou on the planet, as a joy connoisseur. I'm married to life and well, this is how I do 'er. And whether this addiction is an affliction or the proper disposition is based on peripheral vision, because we've got to see more than just our mission.

I'm up here nervous and ecstatic because the first time is always the most interesting. I've been waiting for it for so long and I'm doing it. I took some soft ideas and made 'em hard and I'm putting them somewhere they've never been, somewhere human and I'm sweating and awkward and I'm probably doing it wrong, but I'm doing it!...and it feels-...wait..remember to slow down...relax...enjoy it.

I'm up here because everyone has a deep-seeded need to plan their seed. And there's no more fertile soil than a room full of people who have discontinued their daily dosage of idea birth control, and were thus freed from distraction's sedation, and have gathered to feed their addiction to propositions.

I'm up here because leaps make you feel alive -- but this time, when I look down I don't see shadows of skis stretched on snow so far below that it could bury that life.

I'm up here as part of my timeless research into natural highs. To report back to my alcohol and smoke soaked subculture that my answer to the question is an empirical blessing of exhaustion and expressing.

I'm up here because I'm seeking a solution to my lack of revolution.

I'm up here because life isn't supposed to be comfortable, and when it starts to blur by and all you hear at night is that "tick....tick...tick", you gotta put your conscous camera somewhere scenic and full your ears with that "click....click..click." And it's scary tests that are picteresque, that's why they call it a shudder.

I'm up here because I love the shivers I got from you givers, so you know what, it's because of you I'm a poet.