Saturday, July 7, 2012

Paths Reach Out


To my friend Jeremy Kemp,
who has challenged me to create
who has lived and learned
who has the courage to follow his Wanderlust
to the ends of the Earth

People these days are slaves to predictability.
Day after agonizing day I see people enslaved by comfort,
Thralls to the mundane
And shackled into servitude of the familiar.
They take refuge in the certainty of their home
and their own food and thoughts and routine.

There are countless words that simply
do not translate into any native tongue
But you will write for yourself a new dictionary!

 I realized tonight that paths do not grow outwards from our homes.
Instead, our destinations reach out and find us.

You stepped from your home today and found a gravel path you did not remember.
On a stone was written a single phrase, so delicately carved into the flat surface:
“We eagerly await your arrival”

There is much danger to be seen
And many stones will creep into your sandals.
Your feet will bleed
And your canteen will often run dry

But Kodama and sylphs will sing out to you
to place a hand on your shoulder
And the breath of everyone you know
will fill you

The path ahead blurs into fog, but tread on with heart!
Here’s to the future
Glorious unpredictability
Sacred chaos
and Perfect uncertainty

If you like my writing, you can join the site to the right of the page, like Speaking with Storms on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+ . If you have questions or just want to chat, I'm on Formspring too!

Thanks for reading. Go forth and do good things, my friends.

Friday, June 22, 2012

The Dao of Travel

I recently began work at a chocolate store. It's fun work, with cool people, good hours, and good pay. Seeing as most people like chocolate, we're somewhat popular, and through my work I do have opportunities to meet some rather interesting types.

Today, I had one of those opportunities. A younger man, probably in his late 20s, came in with a beautiful woman about the same age. Together they joked and looked and filled a couple boxes and bought a few bits of chocolate-covered fruit. He wore a large, stiff-looking cast that kept his right arm at about a 90ish degree angle. Being the personable type I am (and needing to fill time as the computer processed his transaction), I asked him about it. His reply was quite unexpected.
"Yeah, I was in Mongolia for the past 3 months and some jackass came out of nowhere and broke my arm in 5 places. You think in most parts of Asia they're just dicking around and just don't obey the laws for whatever reason, but in Mongolia they seriously have no idea what they're doing."
I took it in, realized he was joking about Mongolian drivers, and asked him why he spent so much time in Mongolia. He explained he was there teaching English and traveling for the most part, and had quite literally (just an hour and 45 minutes ago, he explained) touched back down in America. He asked me if I traveled, and I replied honestly,
"A little bit-- though not recently. The most interesting place I've been was Saigon."
Pic related.
The fact that I called the city Saigon (as opposed to Ho Chi Minh City) sparked his interest, and we began a lengthy talk. We shared stories and laughed at each others' "Stupid American" moments. It was a truly human conversation, and I was lucky to meet him. One of his final questions he asked me was,
"So, were you living in Saigon, or just traveling?"
And my response came to me so naturally and unexpectedly that I couldn't help but smile at myself.
"Well, if you aren't traveling, you aren't living."
He and his companion departed to explore the rest of the tangled jungle of capitalism that is the Mall of America, and I went off to my lunch break. As I sat, eating my food and sitting still, I meditated on what I had said.

In Zen teachings, that which is spontaneous is said to be the most honest and truthful. That's the true purpose of the Zen koan, or riddle, such as the famous "Tree Falls in a Forest" question. There is no true answer, it's simply meant to get you to respond spontaneously. My answer to this man's question felt like a response to a koan. Before I even realized it, the words had bubbled out of my mouth. I realized that this is how I truly felt. Even if it didn't apply to everyone, it certainly applied to me.

I came to the simple conclusion that I am getting the urge to travel again. I feel like I need it! I need to go out of my comfort zone, go somewhere that I need to learn a language for. I need to get away from the part time job, and the laptop, and the sleeping for 10 hours, and the capitalism and the Arnold Palmers and the freshly-mowed lawns and the $48.12 to fill my car. I need to leave that behind, even if it's only for a month, or 3 weeks, or hell, even 1 week.

To illustrate the concept of traveling, I have procured this Googled image of Kowloon in Hong Kong.
This conclusion was amplified later in the day when my new manager (new to the store, not new simply because it's a new job for me) asked me what kind of Muppet I am. She explained that there are two kinds of Muppets that Henson created: Chaos Muppets and Order Muppets. Order Muppets feel compelled to organize, divide, compartmentalize, and control, whereas Chaos Muppets enjoy unpredictability, passion, and self-government. After processing the fact that my boss was trying to manage her new store with Muppet logic, I told her that I am by far a Chaos Muppet. I enjoy unpredictability and hate being tied down. I love having a new adventure every day and despise being enslaved to routine.

On my drive home, I had words from the Dao De Jing echoing in my head (big surprise, eh?):
"A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving."
That passage effectively sums up everything I feel right now. I think Daoism got it right about it's approach to traveling. In Daoist culture, wandering is considered the best form of traveling. Wandering for the purpose of discovery, for the purpose of understanding, for the purpose of experience. That's what I think more people need to do. To travel with an empty mind, a light pack, durable shoes, and a thirst to experience, with flexibility and a smile on their faces will do wonders for the soul.
If you like my writing, you can join the site to the right of the page, like Speaking with Storms on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+ . If you have questions or just want to chat, I'm on Formspring too!

Thanks for reading. Go forth and do good things, my friends.

Tuesday, May 8, 2012

I'm Back, or, "Realism, The Economy, Possession, and Chuck Palahniuk"

It's been forever since I've written something. This is for a number of reasons. Catch-up post to come later this week, I promise! Now, for something completely new.

I wrote this essay for a class, a history class. It may or may not be any good-- I'll let you all be the judge of it.





Realism, The Economy, Possession, and Chuck Palahniuk
 
The economy is not getting better. Newsreels show “Occupy (Your State Here)” signs and label the protestors and demonstrators unfairly as “a bunch of college kids upset about not having saved enough for tuition”, according to FOX news personality Carl Cameron. Men and women in Guy Fawkes masks ask the world via Youtube to reconsider their stances on what is truly valuable. Women more qualified than I are being denied entire careers while I stand content at an $8.20 per hour rate chocolate store part-time arbeit. People are growing more and more upset with the wars we, the people, are paying for. The economy is not getting better.
Newspapers and magazines continue to dub it the “New Depression”. Critics, skeptics, economists, and politicians are rebutting and saying it is not as bad as the disaster of the 1929 Great Depression, where most stocks lost somewhere around 80% of their value before bottoming out in 1932. However, many are yet left wondering whether the “New Depression” is a feasible title for our current situation.
To find common threads between the two events, one needs to look at a handful of aspects: The public’s reaction to the plummet, the reason they reacted that way, the reason for the crash, and how it was (or can be) repaired.
So, how did the public react to the stock market crash? Simply, they scraped by as best they could. Some tried to riot, some tried to find work, some tried to find food. Many members of these groups failed. The streets outside the New York Stock Exchange were said to have been “littered with the husks [bodies] of those who felt like all had been taken from them”.  Unemployment rose to a staggering 25%-- and that’s just in the United States. Other countries, especially those who relied on hard industry such as mining, logging, and hunting, had to place embargos upon themselves until they figured out the situation.
We see echoes of this today. The news shows do not tell us, but many have taken their own lives. People are obviously scrambling for jobs. Many say that the European Union is falling apart. The recent recession, in combination with a slew of natural disasters (such as Japan’s Great Tsunami, Chile and Haiti’s earthquakes, and blizzards throughout many parts of Eastern Europe) have made many feel as though their entire lives are at a standstill.
So, why are they reacting so violently, if modern economic theory states that it will repair itself, heal, improve, and America (along with the rest of its trade partners) will get back on track? There are two root causes. One is the economic and political influence of Reinhold Niebuhr.
Niebuhr was as stark a realist and a known attacker of utopianism. In modern terms, his motto might have been “Look in the mirror!” in terms of where our responsibilities lie and where we ought to direct our energy to solve problems. This was somewhat of a bold move, as Niebuhr was a theologian. Before his commentary, many (though not all) pastors, preachers, ministers and priests would spread the idea that Man’s energy, concern, and responsibility should be directed towards Heaven, toward the Divine. Niebuhr wrote that politics, both of the self and of society, is completely driven by self-interest and the desire for personal gain. Machiavelli would have been proud.
Now, the majority of Niebuhr’s writings that reference this stark realism come almost 15 years after the great Depression—The influence doesn’t solely belong to him. Many of those ideas were in place before he began his writing. Their precise origin is hard to pin down, but Timothy J Marsden states that Niebuhr’s writings are “A culmination of sorts, the kind that bring together foreign thoughts to form something rightly Niebuhric”.
Even if Niebuhr had a direct impact on WWII-era thinkers and theologians, there must be something deeper than one man in order for negativity so stark and vivid to proliferate among victims of the Depression. The second, deeper reason we rely so heavily on the economy is the Human Condition itself.
We like stuff. Things. Doodads. The whole point of life in modern Western society is to excel so you can get money so you can get stuff. Food, yeah, and water too, but stuff is what we really aim for. Chuck Palahniuk wrote in his famous novel, Fight Club, “Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy [that which] we don't need.”
This deep-seated desire to possess comes with an equally deep-seated fear of losing that which we possess. So, a political structure that is viewed as being realist (whether it is or is not) influences each of us to be equally dedicated to our own personal interests—Namely, our interest in stuff.
So, the victims of the Great Depression were at the mercy of a political structure designed to make them centered on their material wealth as well as their own internalized habit of clutching to the material to make them feel secure in their position in life.
What actually happened to cause the Great Depression, and for that matter, any economic recession? The answers are less esoteric than one might think. Most economic depressions are linked to mistakes of groups of people as well as uncontrollable events such as failing businesses, deaths of certain people of influence, and even natural disasters.
 The Great Depression, for example, was amplified tenfold in the Midwest down through the Mississippi Valley by the savage drought that created the Midwest’s Dustbowl. There were no crops to grow, no water to give to the earth, and as a result, a full third of the thousands of square miles of farmland in the Mississippi Valley were rendered barren, dead, and abject.
Similar to the circumstances of today’s Occupy movements, people felt that banks were to blame, with due cause. Throughout the course of the 1930s alone, over 9000 banks failed. Many deposits into these banks were uninsured, and as a result, when they failed, those who had made deposits simply lost entire life savings.
As a result of these lack of funds, the natural thing to do for anyone with a lick of sense is to trim the fat and only spend for the bare necessities with what little they had left. Oftentimes, what little they had left was not enough. Soon, still-famous photographs of lines for bread and soup running out of frame were thrown into every front page newspaper and poverty was at an all-time high. There was no money left with which to stimulate the economy.
Now, this is a situation of necessity. Aforementioned “things” in this context were indeed necessary for survival, but the emotional distress that was so widespread amongst the coasts had pushed an almost unnatural desire for possession beyond its limits. The rich remained wealthy and yet they still felt cheated in life, and many rich families who lost a fraction of their wealth (while still a large amount of money and property) had many members commit suicide.
When such disasters happen, there are certain measures that can be taken to help reduce the impact as well as reverse the terrible state of the economy, and according to economist Paul Krugman, it may be as simple as hitting the “rewind” button and doing the exact opposite of what we’re doing right now.
“Spending cuts have led to job cuts, and job cuts have led to spending cuts, and we’re caught in quite the vicious circle”, Krugman told Yahoo! Finance writers Daniel Gross and Henry Blodget. He and fellow economist Trevor Wingham III agree that the best way to reverse a recession is to slowly grow our way out of it, by introducing very modest inflation in baby steps.
            Another solution is to shift production to other industries. Many economists theorize this is what singlehandedly saved the United States from complete economic shutdown during the second World War. 12 million citizens joined the military, and that alone took care of almost 75% of the 17 million unemployed men in the United States. However, if sending citizens off to war is counted as a viable solution to an economic recession, the value of world peace is obviously called into question. There must surely be a way to resolve the problem and avoid dropping atomic bombs on civilians.
            Robert Taft, Robert Wason and Alfred Sloan, all pioneers of open market at the time spoke out against a regimented economy and instead proposed cutting tax rates in order to stimulate more entrepreneurship within the US Economy. Modern sociologists and socioeconomists say a replay of that tactic may be what pulls the US out of its current recession.
            The Occupy Movements have been calling for a more transparent economy, tax breaks, and more freedom for entrepreneurs and small businesses for as long as they’ve been up and running. It is possible that a group of university students and down-and-outs could have touched upon a key tactic to help put the States back on track. It’s true, it’s one simple point, and it’s nowhere near a silver bullet, but as a sign in Occupy Minneapolis read, “What do we want? Just to start moving.” The economy isn’t getting better, but it could.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Sharing is Caring: Part 2

Well, readers, it's a long time coming. I kept promising a sequel to this post,  but a lot of outside influences made it difficult. That, and I'm also a little bit lazy.

In this post, I'll talk about my favorite Rap album, one of my favorite Foreign albums, and my favorite album that fuses two genres. So, seeing as this is long overdue and I'm sure you all are itching for new music, let's get started.


1. Rap: K'naan's Troubadour
 Living in Minnesota has shown me a large swelling of Somali population. I admittedly didn't know a whole lot about Somalia, so when I heard K'naan hailed from there, I simply repeated, "Where?" to which my friend wisely replied "Listen to his words and you'll find out." I was so intrigued by this poet's turn of phrase and ability to rhyme both predictably and unpredictably. Yeah, a lot of you know him from his World Cup smash hit "Wavin' Flag" (this album version is markedly different, and I would argue it's better), but make damn sure that it's not the only song of his you're familiar with. His blend of references to pop culture, other hip hop artists and his hardship in his homeland make each of his songs a bit of a surprise every time I listen to them without losing a familiar feel. With his ability to turn an unfinished rags-to-riches story into a verse full of fable-like morality (with a subtle wink to Muslim faith and Somali culture), I hope K'naan continues to make music-- Especially if it expands on what this album accomplished.

Favorite Tracks:
  • America
  • ABC's
  • Take A Minute
  • Bang Bang
  • Wavin' Flag
My Favorite Lyrics:
From "Bang Bang", a red-hot love song that drips with summertime attraction, these lyrics always bring someone to my mind who I used to have a thing with. Now it's nothing romantic, but certainly it's always good to remember good times spent with someone close.
"She’s so hot she’s a scorch-ian,
Killing me softly,
Lauryn or Kevorkian,
Couldn’t tell if she’s coo-coo or corky, when
I asked her her name she said “Call me Ten.”
Testing, testing
Things just got more interesting
She’s dressed in a vest pin, double-breasted holster,
A very Western toaster,
She ain’t nothing Kosher.
Ah… she lets me closer.
Hotter than a pepper-crusted Samosa
While I try to keep my composure."


2. Foreign: Gigi Shibabaw/Abyssinia Infinite's Zion Roots
  This is a diamond in the rough that I picked up from my college's limited music library. My college has/had a fairly sizable Ethiopian population, so it's no wonder the library tried to get their hands on some Ethiopian music. The first thing I noticed was that the number of songs in English on this album is exactly 0. So, naturally, I loved it. Each of the songs has a complex rhythm, without sounding busy. It sticks out among a lot of African music because it's more harmony-based, like Western music, rather than putting more emphasis on polyrhythmic structures. In layman's terms, you hear more voice and instruments that can balance out the percussion. It has a nice energy level throughout: Vigorous at times, but this album can relax. That said, the album always stays in motion, and that complex, rhythmic motion is what sells me 100% on this album.

Favorite Tracks:
  • Aba Alem Lemenea
  • Ethiopia
My Favorite Lyrics:
From "Aba Alem Lemenea", a song I adore for so many reasons, I chose just one word that's repeated numerous times throughout the song. In English, it simply means, "Why?"
"Lemen? Lemen? Lemen?"

3. Fusion of Two Genres, Classical and Metal: Nightwish's Imaginaerum

Okay, so, "fusion" may not be the right word for this album. That's merely because there are very few words for this album: "IT FUCKING ROCKS"  is the phrase that comes to my mind. I've been a fan of Nightwish for years now, especially since their hit release Once, back when they had their old singer, Tarja Turunen. Now, they blown my mind by creating not only an album, but a musical film of the same title that tells the allegorical story of why Tuomas composes for the band, and offers a glimpse into the band's collective imagination. Imaginaerum starts off with the only Finnish song on the album, Taikatalvi, which sounds like a music box's melody gone horribly wrong. From there, the Imaginaerum draws you in deeper, with heavy numbers like Ghost River and I Want My Tears Back, until you hit the climax of the darkest piece, Scaretale, which is reminiscent of Tim Burton-esque horror combined with every nightmare you've ever had, retold in an oddly entertaining way. After that, the album slows down a bit with downtempo songs such as Rest Calm and The Crow, the Owl and the Dove. However, after that, you're reassured that the album can't end so slowly (After all, it's fucking NIGHTWISH), and Last Ride of the Day closes the main part of the album with a powerful chorus promising "Such an incredible high". After that, a short musical number (Song of Myself) follows with a long poem recited by different band members and other unknown voices, questioning what is worth valuing. Finally, the musical score for the film version of Imaginaerum brings the album to an amazing theatrical close. Nightwish has done it again. Onnittelut, Nightwish.

Favorite Tracks:
All of them. Seriously. A few stick out, though.
  • I Want My Tears Back
  • Rest Calm
  • Last Ride of the Day
My Favorite Lyrics:
From Last Ride of the Day, showing what's in store yet despite the fact that it's near the end of the album-- their imagination isn't so limited!
"Once upon a night we'll wake to the carnival of life
the beauty of this ride ahead such an incredible high
It's hard to light a candle, easy to curse the dark instead
This moment the dawn of humanity
The last ride of the day!"

If you like my writing, you can join the site to the right of the page, like Speaking with Storms on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+ . If you have questions or just want to chat, I'm on Formspring too!

Thanks for reading. Go forth and do good things, my friends.

Friday, January 6, 2012

Lost in Translation

One of my nerdiest hobbies includes studying Hermeneutics. Hermeneutics is the study of the theory of (and the practice of) interpretation. I spend a lot of time (some would say too much) comparing different translations of texts and different interpretations of literature in order to form my own opinion. Some call it obsessive... I just consider it being thorough.

The other evening I was speaking with a friend of mine who is Christian. We were discussing the Lord's Prayer-- I was sharing anecdotes and details that I found amusing. For example: Did you know that in most Asian-language translations of the Lord's Prayer, they ask for God to "Give us today our daily rice"? Regardless, we were not discussing Asian languages.

We were discussing Aramaic, Jesus' first language and the one he spoke most fluently. Aramaic is a Semitic language, meaning it is related to ancient Hebrew and helped give birth to modern-day Arabic. Semitic languages have a great habit of being butchered by Western civilizations for numerous reasons; sometimes to spin the information the way the Church wanted and sometimes simply due to terrible scholarship. Either way, a lot of meaning has been lost. My friend just so happens to be a linguistics student who specializes in Semitic languages. Needless to say, I lucked out.

He wrote and recited the Lord's Prayer for me in Aramaic. It is as follows.
D'bwaschmâja Nethkâdasch schmach
Têtê malkuthach.
Nehwê tzevjânach aikâna d'bwaschmâja af b'arha.
Hawvlân lachma d'sûnkanân jaomâna.
Waschboklân chaubên wachtahên aikâna
daf chnân schwoken l'chaijabên.
Wela tachlân l'nesjuna
ela patzân min bischa.
Metol dilachie malkutha wahaila wateschbuchta l'ahlâm almîn.
Amên.
When I first looked at the phonology of the words and the way the consonants and vowels played off of each other, it honestly looked like a bit of a mess. I said right out loud, "Who would ever design a language this way?" To which my friend wisely responded "We don't design language. Language designs us."
We discussed this for some time, as I recited the German version for him, then translated it literally. He was shocked.
"That's far too close to the Westernized version. It's not close to the original at all."
I asked him to elaborate, which is when he recited the most beautiful English prayer I have ever heard.
Oh You, from whom the breath of life comes,
who fills all realms of sound, light and vibration.
May Your light be experienced in my utmost holiest.
Your Heavenly Domain approaches.
Let Your will come true - in all the universe
just as on earth.
Give us wisdom for our daily need,
detach the fetters of faults that bind us, like we let go the guilt of others
Let us not be lost in superficial things,
but let us be freed from that what keeps us off from our true purpose.
From You comes the all-working will, the lively strength to act,
 And the song that beautifies all and renews itself from age to age.
May this be sealed in trust, faith and truth.
I smiled to myself as I muttered, "That almost sounds like a Buddhist mantra or meditation wheel prayer." The first thing that I noticed (and immediately loved) about it was the second line. "[God] fills all realms of sound, light, and vibration". I interpret this to mean that God can be experienced first-hand, audibly, visibly and palpably. This paints a very different portrait that if any word close to the English "Heaven" were used. Heaven implies somewhere completely separate from the realm of Earth, but in the original Aramaic, God is well within our realm of perception.
Another thing I loved was that it references the holiness of the self. Many denominations of many faiths paint the Human as faulty, less-than, fallen from grace. This prayer, however, speaks of the holiness of the individual. That's right: when Jesus first spoke the Lord's Prayer, he referenced that there is holiness inside every human, a little bit of God in each of us-- a Divine Spark.
When Jesus spoke the words "Let us not be lost in superficial things", I doubt he really meant what is now "let us not be led into temptation". Really, to be lost in superficial things means what? It means to realize what truly matters. It means to avoid desire for things you don't need. It means to remember that you could always have less.
My favorite phrase in the Aramaic is the closing. In English, it's well-known: "For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory." In Aramaic, it is incredibly different. Instead of the kingdom that God owns, he gives something to us: will that is all-purposeful. Instead of omnipotence, he gives vigor and life. Instead of his own glory, he shares something more glorious with us: A song. A song that makes everything beautiful. Indeed, Jesus saw beauty in music-- within and without.
Jesus in a very Buddha-like pose.
 When he finished writing it out for me, he circled a few phrases and explained a few Hermeneutical issues (words that are near-impossible to translate or have other quirks worth notice) to me.
    • The phrase "Breath of Life" is very common in almost all Semitic languages as describing the way God breathes life into clay or dust.
    •  In line 5, the word "Universe" can be literally translated as "All that vibrates".
    • In the line after that, the word for "Earth" is more accurate as "That which is material and dense".
    •  The word "wisdom" in line 7 could also mean "understanding", or "assistance" (as in, the way a teacher 'assists' a student).
    • The phrase "fetters of fault" gives birth to the modern Arabic term for 'karma', an oddly Eastern word to see in a Western prayer.
    • to "let go" in line 8 also means to unlock, relieve weight from, or release from grip.
All-in-all, the Aramaic words used strike certain stark differences tot he modernized version. A lot of people could wonder how so much could be lost in translation, and I urge those people to visit this site  which displays and illustrates Hermeneutical fallacies perfectly. 
Language is constantly changing. There is nothing intrinsically good or bad about that, but it is always important to see where the words we're using come from in order to gain a deeper understanding about the history of what we say and why we say it.
If you like my writing, you can join the site to the right of the page, like Speaking with Storms on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+ . If you have questions or just want to chat, I'm on Formspring too!

Thanks for reading. Go forth and do good things, my friends.

Friday, December 30, 2011

Ripped Jeans and White Robes

Ripped Jeans and White Robes

Ripped Jeans
and silk-screened shirts
Do just fine
to heal the hurt.

You're going from soft water
to sharp ice in seconds
But flash freezing your loyalty
Will only get you so far
and last so long.

Given enough time, you'll melt again
But damn, if you could only see how fast you turned
To pierce your friend.



So, yeah, my jeans have a new hole in the knee
But it's just a sign that they're familiar.
I've owned these pants for so much time, I'm surprised
it took them so long
to wear down.

We better patch it up
before I skin my knee--
You'll have to try harder than that to get my blood,
It runs a deep, strong red
And we wouldn't want to stain your beloved white robes, now,
would we?

If you like my writing, you can join the site to the right of the page, like Speaking with Storms on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+ . If you have questions or just want to chat, I'm on Formspring too!

Thanks for reading. Go forth and do good things, my friends.

Monday, December 26, 2011

Open Mic

So, let's hear it.
This is an open mic.
I want you to tell me everything.
I want you to tell me about that one girl at work who slows everyone else down,
About that promotion you just can't seem to get,
About how no matter how hard you study, you can't get higher than a C
About the pretentious book you just finished reading.
I want you to tell me about the last time you even read a book,
Or the last time you fished
Or fought
Or fucked
Or, better yet, had sex
Or, even better yet, made love
Or made music with a stranger
Or made conversation with a stranger
Or made eye contact with a stranger
Or made eye contact even stranger.

I want you to tell me about your favorite X-Man.
I want to hear about the 3 chords you know how to play on a Piano.
Tell me about your favorite Bible passage,
Or the best place to get a burger around here.
I want you to tell me that you're a Werewolf.
And I want to hear you howl, because this is an open mic.

I haven't been able to scratch down a single word with this ballpoint pen
In the past two months, and you know why?
People haven't been talking.
Well, they've been talking...
But they never say anything.
I want you to say something.
So, let's hear it.
This is an open mic.
Just let me hear it.
Let us all hear it.

I haven't posted anything in a long time because of the holiday season, and I'm sorry about that. There's some spoken word poetry to cheer you up, maybe.

If you like my writing, you can join the site to the right of the page, like Speaking with Storms on Facebook or follow me on Twitter and Google+ . If you have questions or just want to chat, I'm on Formspring too!

Thanks for reading. Stay human, my friends.