A Piece of Pizza

it was an interesting morning
ash had asked me for his shift BACK
like, 'yo, i need this covered', 'oops, i kinda need to work'

oddly enough i really wanted to work, but i gave him the shift, knowing i could shark one if i needed to
and i did, so i rolled outta bed, in the mood to make money - or more likely in the dire NEED OF -
and as i walk in ash asks if i want it back, cuz 'somebody' tied one on.
so of course i take it, AND the 2 tables being sat as we chat....gotta love the universe...

his mom sat across from him, and grandma trapped him from the outside of the booth.
they were cute - fun, and engaging, enjoyed my energy and i theirs and we had fun...his pizza came out first, but it was a bit too hot. their food came soon behind and he was just beginning to eat his pizza as i dropped their plates, timing could not have been more perfect, or pertinent.
i asked if all was well and i went on my way...my entire section was as happy as could be and the hostess was making jokes about a co-worker.

maybe a minute passed, coulda been 4, hell 20 if i didnt know any better, but as i walked toward the corner of the wall, separating my section from the main dining, i heard a shriek and a cry, and i stepped around to find a bright faced little boy, around 8 or 9, perhaps 60lbs if that, and a hysterical grandmother, yelling that she couldnt get it out, with a mother standing an arms length away, frozen in lucid fear, watching her son choke and unable to even move....reaction kicks in and you do or they die....can you imagine what its like to snatch a purple faced child out of his terrified grandmothers arms and will her to let go as you tell her he will be ok if she lets go.....'i got him, i have him, let him go, please, let me have him....'

and every second all i thought was 'dont miss his diaphragm, he doesnt have much time'

two pops and he spit it up, in one context it was soooooo anti-climactic, because it took so little effort, it was like i was EMT trained, which i was not, nor am i today. but i knew. i knew he'd be fine if she let go.

i held the little boy suspended in my arms as he gasped for breath, heaving, not even crying, still shocked and stunned from the experience, and i cannot imagine what must have been going thru his mind, or those of his family and onlookers. it was surreal. i shrugged it off, and refused her tip(she tried to hand me 200 bucks) and made sure they were ok. i always wonder what happened to that little kid. what his name was, and where he ended up. did it make him attuned to anything bigger? did he grow up and recognize the moments each as they passed, knowing what it was like to be so close to the changing of his momentary perspective. i wonder what happened to that little boy, and just how much the world can change simply because of a piece of pizza.

la tabla rasa

Blank slates
We use this expression as an analogy for 'starting over' such as moving to a new town
Or a new job
Or a new lover
What we are missing is that the slate is always blank
We are not born to knowledge,
we are born of it
It is as we gain and assimilate new information and experiences that we become more human
Our humanity and our individuality stem from our ability to emotionally interpret and process our experiences
As well as our ability to intellectually critique, if you will, the world around us
many animals can 'learn', a matter of repetitious programming, but we are different in that we can UNDERSTAND the conceptualized ideas of existence
We are aware that we are gaining knowledge which was heretofore not present in our psyche/brain/soul/mind or what have you

We are sentient beings and as thus we have the capability of recognizing our own growth
So why are we not growing at a perceptible rate

before and after
9/9/10
There are those moments, brian speaks of them often, when you know that the rest of your life is  'before this moment/after this moment'
Nyc was one of those moments for me
Leaving richmond was one of those moments

Those moments permeate the fabric of who you are
There is a hollywood-esque quality to them, 
an incendiary nature that lights you from the inside 
and
 tells you that, where you are, 
right there, right then, 
is profound beyond the simple grace of existence,
 it is a designation, a reminder,
 a 'drop pin here' kind of moment 
that you will forever refer
 back to 
because of the people, 
the place, 
and the experiences that you had, 
there, in that 
moment, when all 
the world made sense
 on chelsea piers,
and we were young and knew
 only that we had our whole lives
 in
 front of us...

Social Poetry Defined

Social Poetry Defined

so·cial

   [soh-shuhl] Show IPA
adjective
1. pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations: a social club.
2. seeking or enjoying the companionship of others; friendly;sociable; gregarious.
3. of, pertaining to, connected with, or suited to polite or fashionable society: a social event.
4. living or disposed to live in companionship with others or in a community, rather than in isolation: People are social beings.
5. of or pertaining to human society, especially as a body divided into classes according to status: social rank.

po·et·ry

   [poh-i-tree] Show IPA
noun
1. the art of rhythmical composition, written or spoken, for exciting pleasure by   beautiful, imaginative, or elevated thoughts.
2. literary work in metrical form; verse.
3. prose with poetic  qualities.
4. poetic  qualities however manifested: the poetry of simple acts and things.
5. poetic  spirit or feeling: The pianist played the prelude with poetry.



there are a lot of ways that one could choose to put these two together. i do it like this - actions and intentions given to a dispersing of consciousness expansion, uplifting happiness and growth through the sharing of gratitude, joy and love.
that is social poetry; and much as with literary poetry, it is a difficult, if fun, entity to attempt to narrow down.
so i will do the opposite. i will expand it, because that is at the center of it all, is it not? growth. uplifting. expansion.
from running a hostel, to writing poetry, to running a nonprofit, to working with the music community, we find that we and those around us can usher our social poetry into existence in a myriad of different mediums and methods.
“...but i know we can’t all stay here forever, so i wanna write my words on the face of today...”
shannon hoon said those words in a well known blind melon song, Change, and those words ring true just as much now as ever they might have.
are we writing our words on the face of today?!?
first we step up with occupy, then we step back as we allow rick perry and herman cain to dominate headlines, and congress to pass the NDAA...we are pouring our civil liberties and our basic rights out into the abyss of virtual disposal...what many of us are forgetting is that once we give these rights and liberties away, history has proven repeatedly that they are next to impossible to regain without a major upheaval.
maybe its what we need.
we are raping the land with corn, a crop that is carbon negative to such a degree as to be unconsionably detrimental, while it is next to impossible to get INDUSTRIAL hemp claused into legislature for commercial usage, despite hemps versatility, sustainability and carbon neutral potential, as well as its many health benefits and textile uses which are considerably more environmentally conscious that their alternatives, i.e., replacing wood and forest cutting to make paper, utilization in paints and other liquid textiles, fiber for rope and clothing fabrics, as well as the benefits of hemp oil and the broad array of nutritional properties of the plant and its seeds.
although there are ample technologies and materials available to expand solar energy and wind energy to mass continental levels, and electric and hydrogen batteries are currently already viable options, the petroleum industry continues to thwart attempts at ‘going planet green’
WAKE UP
oil men have KNOWN for years we were headed this direction
they are ringing every last gasp of pennies from us in order to extract whatever income they can before making the big jump and leaving the training pants behind
when we as a society take the jump to global green, to symbiosis with gaia and mother earth, we will me taking a step towards happiness, towards god, towards grace.
this is our social poetry...so, tell me what is your poetic license????

You should do PR

You should do PR.
One of the most interesting things i have heard.
Oh, there are myriad 'everyday' thoughts as to what one in my field 'should' do, each a caricature of the others, all sales driven, be it direct or otherwise. You should Sell Cars. You should get into Real Estate. Have you ever worked in sales?
Well yes, clearly, but i do what i do out of enjoyment and passion, not because i didn't go to college.
i got stellar grades.
when i actually showed up to class, i would estimate, conservatively i believe, that i with ease and nonchalance maintained a 3.7+ GPA. Nope that isn't a typo. i'm indeed quite smart. The thing is, i really love what i do. i can move around, travel, follow the seasons and go anywhere in the world and i will have a job. There is hospitality virtually everywhere.
But here, it is different. Servers are seldom revered and often they are dismissed, and even looked down on - though that is not often the case. Here, we are driven by sales. Because the Industry is dependent on Tips, the Industry is driven by sales. Simple math tells you that more sales = more tips.

But what if it is more than that. What if, as a chef can adore and lavish his being into the quality of his craft, i imbue my service, YOUR experience, with a desire for artistic quality and style?!?

forget the sales.
forget for a minute the tips.
there are more than a few of us who take this seriously.
remember that. we aren't all community college students and MFA's.
some of us are NOT out-of-work-actors-and-actresses.
ha.
some of us just like to be around a dynamic environment and we love food/wine/booze/people.

Oh My Good Life

Oh My Good Life

thank you alison and rob - dj trip doc trip hop
and cierra and neal
and nico and jennifer of xocolatl
and rich - not chris but the same letters, just rearranged
oh and glenn and patricia
the Other chiro i met tnite
damn sonssss
let murphy have his playful lil interceding bout with fate
i
am
ME
I
CHOOSE
MY
PATH
nothing stands in my way
not 40 min trains
or subway madness
earlier incidents be damned

cabs on the street
going beep beep beep
and all the while lil bo peep stands idly by

i sprint to the light and breeeaaaatttthhhhheeeeeeeeeee
OMGL
this is THAT kinda day
its going to be
me and
we are
so
just damnededededededed

wow
and back to reality
oh, there goes rabbit
he
went down the hole
and here we are
again at the point
where
resolution is the tempest
that temps
 the
   fate
      of
            the
                              world on your shoulders

can                     carry it alone??????????????????                                   ????????????????????????????
        you                                                               -----------------------



we arrive at the minute
 p
   o
       i
             n
                            t
juxta - suppose we
were to look
at
things slightl
             ew        y
         sk     ed

how would we feel about the
change in
p
e
r
s
p
e
c
t
i
v
e
?
h
m
m
m
?

slant your
e
y
e
s
for a moment
maintain
your
composu r e . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Along the Way

3/22-3/29

All we found were the hardships of life
Childhood passed us by before we even realized we were supposed to be paying attention

But isn't that what childhood is
Its the lack of needing to pay attention
Its just being there
Living
Experiencing the world
The universe reminding you that you do matter
But you are VERY small
Lol
We are watching the flares of light emitted by the incandescent souls we meet
Those like nico
He wanders in and out of the peripheral of anyone who will entertain his joy and affection
He is an enigma a gypsy trekking the sky and leaving only the sun in his wake
And oh how it pales to his burn
He blazes with passion to see a bird fly or watch a child watch the world
His is the lust and yearning of life
To embrace and own the experience of experience.....that which is watching the sun rise while knowing it will rise again and be at once equivalent and at the same time superior because each instance is a new experience with the ephemeral
Each breath is a new dance with gaia and every new sound is the whisper of whatever goddess you choose to worship
She muses about the love and warns as a siren song against the worry of anything less than everything you have

a call to action

last i checked

of - 

     for - 

             by - ... hhhmmmmmm i wonder

yeah, that WAS the case

or

so i thought

we fought

we watched

but did nothing

amidst our disgust

or 

discussion

the weight

of your balls.....

motion in poetry and 

in action

in uncertainty

poetry in

motion

in context

in purpose

in passion

is a wake up 

cry

for the help

with the 

certainty certain 

to show us our purpose

1/20/12