Open Mic Night Performance of "The Team"

I went to my first open mic nite EVER at the Heartland Cafe in Rogers Park, Chicago and performed my spoken word poem called "The Team". This is my first time performing my poetry in front of an audience besides my friends, but I started performing in general at a pretty young age and writing poetry (and song lyrics) since 2006.



I gave a little schpeal before this prior to performing this in regards to my advocation for anti bullying that wasn't recorded. I have heard of way too many cases of people killing themselves due to bullying and it needs to stop!



The words to my poem can be found at http://dbzmaron.blogspot.com/2013/05/the-team.html - though there is slight variation between what was said and what I originally wrote!



Pardon my lack of memorization!



This video was taken on 1-29-14. Enjoy!

Presence

Time moves way too fast. Instead of being stressed and complaining all the time about your past, why not just live in the present moment and follow your dreams in this new year?

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If time flies when you’re having fun

Why not cherish every breath, every beat… 

To otherwise end up in an eternal drag…

If you stop and stargaze 

And let presence surround you

The spontaneous wind will open the gateway to the Now

But if you‘re absent

Your consciousness ceases

And your radiating smile subsides

While you become blind…

Moments wither away when you sleep in the pit you dug for yourself…

Happiness is a choice

Wipe the waste clean with the start of the new year

Believe you can fly 

And optimism’s light will bestow upon your heart

With the checkered flag and gold medal in hand!

Experience

Life is a game. As you grow up you learn more of how to play. There are many obstacles you have to overcome, but there are also many ways to succeed. How will you do that? This is spoken word too!

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Winning the game is all about living
Not letting the obstacles trip you
Not enabling negativity to slip at you
Not having the evil force field tip you…
When you grow up
And begin your new adventures
You may have the urge to start over
Like pushing the restart button in a Mario game
When you’re about to fall in the pit and die
And you want to avoid game over at all costs…

Life is no joke
Obstacles at every turn
Fire to make you burn
While you’re only looking to exit the vicious loop
That causes you to spiral into the ground
Resulting you to feel lower than Rock Bottom
And worse than being smashed by an oversized fire-breathing turtle…

In order to succeed
You must envision a goal
Create a roadmap to follow that won’t let you down like a GPS
And head to the finish before your time reaches zero…
Don’t wait too long
Or let the outer poison adversely affect you
Or your heart will flood with regret
And you will wonder “WHY DID I WAIT SO DARN LONG?!?!”
Or “WHY DID I LET FEAR GET THE BEST OF ME?!?!
Make sure to stop and smell the flowers too while you’re at it!
It’s all a part of the experience…

Life is yours!
The now is your best friend!
With your heart as your guide,
Spontaneity as your watchdog,
And your mind as your intuition,
Just let yourself swiftly flow down the moving world
And do what’s best for YOU to make YOU happy!
How will YOU win the game?