The Morning Salute

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My eyes look upon

Something strange

Minutes before dawn

The peace of moments new

A day anew

The weary eyed few

That arise at this hour

Stumble fourth

And yawn to the heavens

Like gentle flowers

We make our ways

Through streets frozen cold

Filled with feet of winter snow

In the city of Chicago

Yet we go

Be it train or car

Foot or bus

We go

To our locations

Bustling confrontations

From skyscrapers

To the subway underneath

Life today is cold

Yet joyous

Continued on with a chorus

Of horns and tires

I salute you Chicago

In the morning hours

We find our purpose

Amongst the weeds

Burst these most beautiful flowers

Delays come in Every Shade

Delays come in Every Shade

Delays come in every shade

Some unintentional

Some man made

Waiting for the right time

Can be a distraction

While the postponing real resolve

Leads to the utmost dissatisfaction

Running around to wait

To see

To be there

When you need to be

Yet can all be delayed

Postponed

Forlayed

At some point

When the bags are packed

Forward progress has begun

And no looking back

Free yet cautious

Conscious decisions made

For not one more day

Can I be delayed

 

Dust Life Off

Working on waiting
Waiting to work
Life held up
Can be frustrating
Confusing
Held back
Downright
Bemusing
Pick life up
Dust it off
Get going
Go
Let go
Prepare
Live with no care
Work hard
Dedicate
Life is better
Lived this way

Summer’s Corner

I will win

I will lose

Winter rolls in

Laying snow

Over scars soothes

We wait

We correct

Hoping for the best

We wait for summer’s corner

Or head west

We practice

We rehearse

Taking a chance

For no small splash

But a giant burst

I remember

I will win

I will lose

For my growing heart

This is no new

News

 

 

The Daily Routine

Ah the challenge of keeping creativity alive in my life. As I am pulled to try and sell the art and the creations that have already occurred. It is hard sometimes to step back and try and let the creative juices be heard. So I sat down to try and document my daily routine of keeping creativity alive in my life. So here it is – enjoy!

The daily routine

Wake up in the morning

Make sure to exercise

Work out the arms and the thighs

Get back and get cleaned up

Got to write and practice

Keep the routine up

3 or four hours later

I now sit at the compu-tater

Life’s lines complex yet defined

I make this no place to wine

Letting go on paper what must be done

Seemed like a good idea

Challenging and fun

Poems must be constructed daily

This challenges what I have to say

About beauty, art, and the progress of today

The challenge is not to conform

But to set a new aggressive norm

Creativity must be engaged often

Or else the course muscles will soften

Decay and leave your soul

Looking for someone else to enroll

The creative spirit can be fleeting and gone

So I must capture these spirits in songs

Poems, writings, and other means

Or else I will be left with nothing

Creativity gone and no job to boot

I look pretty bad now in a business suit

Full of aspirations are these writings

Even though my mind is rattled with distractions

I must be real and stay ahead

Better off here trying

Than creativity dead

Wonder

Video

This is a song about how my mind seems to wonder at all times. I have a very curious personality – and I feel this song really captures the way I feel sometimes. Enjoy!

Great Nostalgia – 13 Years Ago

Tonight post is short and sweet. We just rocked out at a sweet house party in Downtown South Bend the night before our big show here in the bend for St Paddy’s Day. I am kinda wiped out – but I will give it my best. I am feeling a little nostalgic because I realized that tomorrow will be our biggest performance in South Bend ever and I have been playing in the bend for 13 years!!! Holy shit! I played my first show when I was 15, my mom dropped me off at a local coffee house called “Higher Grounds” in DT South Bend. It was an amazing show and now tomorrow I will be on stage in front of 8,000+ crazy to look back at the journey – and funny how life works. But I am super excited – a poem will be written post show to summarize the feelings and emotions. For some reason word press is not letting me space correctly so this will be read by using commas (not for grammatical purpose)

All the chatter, Play it this way and what is the matter, Chords still ring out, I cling to this guitar like a mad hatter, I have seen many a shops open and close, Sang them a song before they had to dispose, Of all their assets and move out of town, Kinda sad to think that I would never again see them around, This town or any other for that matter, People have come and gone, Some great inspirations, Some not so much, But in some meaningful way it was my life that they touched, I think back with great nostalgia to the first show posters, My life since those first days has been nothing short of a great roller coaster, I have now traveled from coast to coast, I have found places I loved the least and the most, With my guitar I have traveled, I say this not to boast, My humble beginnings playing in Coffee shops to onlookers playing chess, I did not have a fabulous voice, I can honestly say that I gave it my best, Only 15 looking for a grand time, Little did I know that love and a calling I would find, Years went by, I continued to play, I tried to give it a little something just about everyday, Then music led me to my love, She landed in my life as gentle as a dove, She would sing I would play, Anywhere and we did not worry about pay, 10 years have gone by since then, I can not believe it has already been 10, Now we get to play on a much great stage, I guess you could say that we have turned the page, From the empty coffee houses to people packed in, I used to know this city when the music scene was thin, Now it is robust and growing, Songs are being written, People now create great art, I am humbled to think that I played just a small part, I hope South Bend continues to grow, What it will become in ten years nobody really knows, To do my part I will just continue to pick up my guitar sing and play, I hope for the best for this city one day, Wishing it the best on this St. Patrick’s Day.

Fervent Thrust

Imagine being in a bar, not during the high time, but at low times. We have spent countless hours in the bars setting up, sound checking, talking, and networking. I was really inspired by the floor of these places as they all seem to look exactly the same. In addition to that it has a very similar scent. To me it is a very bittersweet feeling but it always reminds me of a show that is about to start as it is the first thing we are greeted  with when we walk through the doors for the night. I try to give you a sense of this feeling in the poem here called “Fervent Thrust”.

 

Bar floors tell much more

That what I could ask for

In the corners where the light shines dim

Away from sweepers on the outer rim

Tells a story of many a nights

Careless dancers and crazy bar fights

The smell of beer and must

Bellows from the vents

Greeting me at the door

With a fervent thrust

Beer caps lay with hair and mold

All the shit here is more that a day old

But this is the smell of music in action

I have found this true

Regardless of the disgusting reaction

This is where American music thrives

And discovers its sound

The walls have been broken in

It is a sacred ground

The bartender wipes the deck

Getting ready for another crazy night

Turns the lights on low

And sweeps the dust below

Sound checks ring with the

Check 1,2 in the background

The band gears up for the party going down

But in the corner of the bar

Is where you can find the filth of yesterday

The colors grown of black and gray

The sounds ring out and knock the dust from the table

Music rings out regardless of the label

Of genres and names things oh so irrelevant

Just a business note people need

And business people sent

But play it out loud

Ring it out clear

Bring the corners and floors alive

The dancing blokes

With clashing beers

Rest

This was written after a couple of weeks on the road. This trip included all of the major music hubs in the U.S. (in my humble opinion of course and for our particular genre). We had stops in New York, Chicago, L.A. and Nashville. We finally got to the end of our journey to a log cabin up in the woods on Traverse City, MI and I slept for basically 48 hours. At the end of the sleep I was able to get up and write some words that needed to be written down. They came to me in a early morning haze. So here it is a poem on rest – enjoy!

Rest

There is one thing that unifies

This no one can contest

That when we fall asleep

The mind now at rest

The heart

Beats

And beats

And beats

To no similar tune

But in similar fashion

The mind at rest

I can attest

This is the best

Way to connect to each other

There are no preconditions

No medication

Or temptation

For one to connect

To others

Through this sensation

Of mind cessation

Temporary of course

But this might lead a course of action

To rest away the weary eyes

To come to negotiation anew

Many a times it has worked for me

And surely will do the same for you

Lights out in gentle style

Let the mind take the lonely mile

And hearts beat sustain throughout the night

And in the morning

Everything will be alright