I get hit up all the time as to where video of me performing is at. While I don't have a ton of recent stuff, here's what I could grab from the interwebs
9.03.2009
Poem: 15 Songs for the Inner-City Teenager
A few people asked about this, so here it is:
15 Songs for the inner-city teenager
I. The first time you watched an animal starve to death
You told yourself
This was nature’s way
An evolution you were helpless to stand witness too
The first time you watched
You didn’t even notice it gnawing on your leg
To save itself
II. He says, ‘They gave me a hall pass, I think I’m supposed to be here’
III. Do you think it’s a coincidence that dolphins only commit suicide
After their family has abandoned them. There is a mass grave on beach fronts
Vacant of a biological history to claim for themselves
IV. When you catch the little black boy reaching for your wallet, only confront him after he has taken it
You will know if he is an animal
If he snaps at the throat that fed him
V. The walls of Eastmoor Academy High School are stained with primer
But allergic to paint
You can hear the lockers rusting under barbwire tears
The ceilings bleed yellow
Pissing over proposed failures
Like a hate crime
VI. A convicted pedophile once said that today’s youth
Are like fountain pens
They can produce beautiful arts
As long as you don’t press hard enough to break them
VII. The fourth time you watched an animal starve to death
You crossed the street
Quickened your pace
Sang ‘Amazing Grace’ loud enough to block out
The death rattle behind you
VIII. He used to walk to school with his friends. Then he walked to school with an extra clip in his pocket
Now he just walks with an extra clip
IX. Near the end of World War II, the US soldier confronts a civilian of Auschwitz near a concentration camp:
Are you fucking kidding me. Are you trying to tell me you couldn’t smell the bodies. The burning. The ritual
Do you expect me to believe that you can’t taste death when you opened your bedroom window at night
That you don’t know extinction when you see it?
X. ‘I have a hall pass, I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be here’
XI. The streets are like dog years. If I live to my senior year, I want 34 candles on my cake. What the fuck do you know about privilege? I walk past guys every day that size up kids like malt liquor bottles. Longing for the day they can twist my top off and pour out some for the losers that ain’t here. Did you think this was as easy as falling off a bike? Did you think that adults would live forever?
XII. The 11th time you saw an animal starve to death
You closed the door. Called animal control. Boarded your windows
Complained what the spectacle would do to your property value
XIII. The walls of Northland High School are slick with the gooey insides of torn promises
If you press your chest to the linoleum, you can smell the bodies, the burning, the rituals. Do you think the walls flirt with the ghosts of extinction? If it had arms how tight do you think it would hold it students?
XIV. The last time you saw an animal starving to death
You shot it in the forehead. Watched its ambition hit the cement like a bear trap vomiting on itself
Its left leg was still twitching when you removed the hall pass from his fist and replaced it with the gun
You then immediately forgot the whole thing happened
XV. A bloody E Flat he says, ‘They gave me a hall pass, told me, I was supposed to be here. Did they know you were waiting here, when they sent me?’
15 Songs for the inner-city teenager
I. The first time you watched an animal starve to death
You told yourself
This was nature’s way
An evolution you were helpless to stand witness too
The first time you watched
You didn’t even notice it gnawing on your leg
To save itself
II. He says, ‘They gave me a hall pass, I think I’m supposed to be here’
III. Do you think it’s a coincidence that dolphins only commit suicide
After their family has abandoned them. There is a mass grave on beach fronts
Vacant of a biological history to claim for themselves
IV. When you catch the little black boy reaching for your wallet, only confront him after he has taken it
You will know if he is an animal
If he snaps at the throat that fed him
V. The walls of Eastmoor Academy High School are stained with primer
But allergic to paint
You can hear the lockers rusting under barbwire tears
The ceilings bleed yellow
Pissing over proposed failures
Like a hate crime
VI. A convicted pedophile once said that today’s youth
Are like fountain pens
They can produce beautiful arts
As long as you don’t press hard enough to break them
VII. The fourth time you watched an animal starve to death
You crossed the street
Quickened your pace
Sang ‘Amazing Grace’ loud enough to block out
The death rattle behind you
VIII. He used to walk to school with his friends. Then he walked to school with an extra clip in his pocket
Now he just walks with an extra clip
IX. Near the end of World War II, the US soldier confronts a civilian of Auschwitz near a concentration camp:
Are you fucking kidding me. Are you trying to tell me you couldn’t smell the bodies. The burning. The ritual
Do you expect me to believe that you can’t taste death when you opened your bedroom window at night
That you don’t know extinction when you see it?
X. ‘I have a hall pass, I’m pretty sure I’m supposed to be here’
XI. The streets are like dog years. If I live to my senior year, I want 34 candles on my cake. What the fuck do you know about privilege? I walk past guys every day that size up kids like malt liquor bottles. Longing for the day they can twist my top off and pour out some for the losers that ain’t here. Did you think this was as easy as falling off a bike? Did you think that adults would live forever?
XII. The 11th time you saw an animal starve to death
You closed the door. Called animal control. Boarded your windows
Complained what the spectacle would do to your property value
XIII. The walls of Northland High School are slick with the gooey insides of torn promises
If you press your chest to the linoleum, you can smell the bodies, the burning, the rituals. Do you think the walls flirt with the ghosts of extinction? If it had arms how tight do you think it would hold it students?
XIV. The last time you saw an animal starving to death
You shot it in the forehead. Watched its ambition hit the cement like a bear trap vomiting on itself
Its left leg was still twitching when you removed the hall pass from his fist and replaced it with the gun
You then immediately forgot the whole thing happened
XV. A bloody E Flat he says, ‘They gave me a hall pass, told me, I was supposed to be here. Did they know you were waiting here, when they sent me?’
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