SIDEWAYS EIGHT PROJECTS

~ markers ~

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Where are the markers we start from, in relation to the roads that we cross? Permanence can give way to cart some of the break evens off as a loss. Part smart and part dumb is the notion that we are each our own boss. BART comes in with brand new, and drops them off with no gloss.

We wish to bury our roots, so that we can be unmoved when we wish. Then we curse immobility wanting a taste of a different dish. We cannot have it both ways, though crossing signs let us know of an alternate way. Whether one always moves or always stays, our markers live to fight another day.

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#rails #posts #signs #paths #ways #choices #poetry #roots #permanent

~ descanso ~

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A moment of rest, at best blessed with a four hour siesta, oh yes! Beside the fire that makes you unafraid to leap at present and dangerous birthday cakes. Rest from the worries of your day. It may not seem like it right now, but things are unfolding as they should. Rest dear friend. Most things are not in our control. Enjoy your dreams in doggy daytopia. Ahorrita Es el timeout descansar.

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#poetry #bassethound #descansar #rest #siesta #cashchronicles #firesidenaps #dogsofinstagram #dogsofig #petsofinstagram #cashmoney

~ back when ~

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Back when everything was pen to paper, and dishwasher paychecks weren’t yet spent on compact discs, I’d create my own dj segments of poetry and comic capers, while doing the adolescent version of calculated risks. Fast forward and rewind would remind me to look back, and that I was always running out of time. Pressing play helped me get ready for the day. The Walkman went on the bus for the field trip, the pages stacked high on my dresser. I’d have to learn hip hop in sips, but I never felt any lesser. There wasn’t an internet to look up lyrics, copy and paste, and repost. There weren’t yet hysterics to host. It was about the music and the words before I knew what they were called, before I had ever even seen MTV. Sometimes low battery meant the flow stalled, but a fresh Duracell pack brought them back to me.

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#poetry #maxell #cassette #hiphop #words #lyrics #patience #og #history #internet #digital #compactdiscs #walkman #listen #hear #understand #sidewayseightprojects #dj

~ Opening Night ~

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We step into the ring to face each other, yet in the end the fight is alone. In cities where brother is pitted against brother, to determine who’ll claim the throne. The tail of the tape can’t convey the trail and escape of the heart which beats in the chest. A heart that is measured only by grit and by grace. A heart that burns to be the very best, while expressed from the hungry place. Life will put us on the ropes, it will threaten our existence from the stands. It will steepen the pitch in our slopes, and it may bind those helping hands. It may bring things to us in black and white, or in the full color of Mother Earth. We enter the ring in wrong and right, in depravity and utmost worth.

We struggle with surroundings, and we struggle within, though others may be the victims for our quest. So long as those who will both finish and win begin, never letting up for a moment of rest.

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#poetry #theatre #boxing #ring #theroyale #jackjohnson #ropes #tape #journey #struggle #stage #history #race #relations #fight #goodluckmacbeth

~ bandaids ~

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We can put bandaids across our history, and pretend it didn’t happen. We can tell a completely different story, and pay others to stand there clapping. We can have new books written, doctor photos, and deny the truth until we die. But the stones themselves will cry out, and the clouds will fall from the sky. For our history is rooted in the slumps of elderly backs, the complete lack of trust for the powers that be. And what the corporate stories lack, is exactly what binds them to me. Too many letters have been written. Too many lives have been touched. Too many truths have too long remained hidden, to the masses who miss them so much. Everything will be known for a time. Everything brought to light of day. The singers will sing, the poets will rhyme, and together we will light the way.

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#poetry #history #stories #bandaids #lies #past #textbooks #reflections #morningthoughts #meditations

~ reminders ~

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This world will leave its mark on our bodies, and erect statues to the inflicted wounds. So that every time we forgot these wounds existed, we are reminded by the past that looms. The scars may be a testimony to healing, an explanatory story for others to listen, understand, and truly hear it. And though our bodies may be brittle, these reminders don’t have to injure our spirit.

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#poetry #photography #wounds #injuries #scars #stories #explanations #behaviors #spirit

~ what is ours ~

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Our lack of forgiveness keeps us incarcerated, rather than enshrined in the halls of peace.

Our lack of living witness sleeps beside us

waiting for the anticipated divine release.

Our lack of character shows deficiency in all spaces, through all wounds, and in all exchanges.

Our lack of patience knows that resiliency can warm expressionless faces, and bring all time within ranges.

Our center knows when it is off, imbalanced, and strained.

Our heart is never as soft as when it loves though it’s pained.

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#poetry #photography #laketahoe #waves #ripples #thoughts

~ A dream coming true by the day ~

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#poetry #mountains #glance #homemeansnevada #imyours #webelongtogether #love

~ hop to the next notch ~

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Trying to hop, jump, skip, leap, cut to the next level. Cut to the chase, rewind, erase, any mind toward, any trace of reward for greasy grace. But the lines have been replaced by worn marks so thick there isn’t a semblance of where to start from. Lines are gone or going, and it seems only those who can leap from the somewhat beginning directly to the end can contend. We’re trying to hop, cut, leap, jump, skip to the very end. But if we did then we wouldn’t see all of the steps along that assured us it wasn’t pretend.

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#poetry #hopscotch #levels #leap #cut #jump #end

~ Excerpts from Literture Series: Tim O’Brien ~

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#thethingstheycarried #timobrien #poetry #photography #story #quotes #excerpts #literature #sundancebooks #checkout