Tag Archives: United States

Chain Restaurant Waitress

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Some scribbles I wrote down after a decent meal. It was at a chain restaurant, one I have not been in in over 4 years. Needless to say I was very skeptical about the whole experience, as I am an avid supporter of local food and goods. However I was taken back not by the food or the atmosphere, but by the generosity and the attitude of the waitress. Which reminded me that the most important aspect to any recipe be it local food or chain food – the human element can make up for so much lost. So I wrote a free form poem about it. Enjoy!

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There is a waitress who will go out of her way to make people happy

No real investment in the comfy chairs the executive sits in or the bottom line

She just wants to make people happy when they dine

Bringing out all the joy and happiness from the capitalists

Or a lack thereof

Wanting to make her customer’s happy bringing water and food

Laughs carelessly to all the patrons in the room

Leaving one feeling happy and hopeful

Soothing and caring

Her beauty is often forgotten in these bland commercial chains

Not tonight she is a beauty to behold

A true delight

Feeling much better when she says goodnight

 

A City on the Verge of Revolution

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My hometown cries out for help and investment from my generation. Not only the monetary investment to restore it, but the physical elbow grease and time that a city needs to be rebuilt. Being that I am a full time musician and weary of committing any time or money to anything because of my transient lifestyle, the idea wears on me. I have no idea what I can do but I want to do something. This is a poem about the challenges the city faces, but what I face also. I am going to do a series of poems on South Bend, IN and this is the first installment. Enjoy!

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A city on the verge of revolution

Slow but surely it rises

Dim lit hopes to find

A solution

Will I be the resolution

Or the prodder

Stay or leave

I can’t just pay restitution

If I stay I shall invest myself in the future

A price not yet determined

The man at the store

Is not afraid to give me the sermon

The streets can be brought

Back to original glory

Of the Studebaker nights

An all American story

–

At stake city buildings

Crying out for help

Asking to take its wings

Nourish it with fillings

Can these hands build back

What has been stolen away

Should I give up

Simply wait for yet another day

These streets and walls have gone on neglected

Yet I try to move out

All my things

I have collected

Only to be called back

With a voice so timid and quiet

Asking for help

While its soul is dying

–

Can I afford to stay

What help can I be

Even a little effort

Goes a long way I can see

People are inspired

Looking for revolution

So I fix the brim of my hat

And commit to be

Part of the solution

Equality

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All this talk about equality

Let us remember it was a gift

To you

To me

So what right have we

To not give it freely

We hold onto this gift

Tightly clenched in our hands

While people beg to be equal

You plot to make other plans

Try to quiet the voices of upheaval

Standing in the way of progress

Will leave the heart cold

A heap of tender mess

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This is no question of religion

Who is holy and who we bless

It is about sharing love we have been given

Don’t stand in the way

Change is winnin’

When cold mouths fall silent

Ears muted to the calling out

That is truly

Not what this country is about

Embrace the wind from the mountains

Fall back into the ocean tide

Stand with our neighbors united

Throughout all the country side

Democracy needs us now

In the moments tried and true

Moments committed to the history books

Are decided right now by me and you

–

Forget the political stands

Religions trying to buy you out

When fair is not fair

You must scream and shout

People who need equality

Ride next to you on the highway

Sit by you on the train

Do not let these peoples strife

Be forgotten in vain

The bird that flies in the night

Will be back at dawn

To lay at rest

When the work is done

As Martin Luther King brought light to the flame

Calling out to our generation to continue

To do the same

–

For we are on the cusp of progress

The moment when intuition and passion

Are put to the test

So let us not rest

Until everyone is seen equally

And as we say in the USA

To everyone

God Bless

Wonder

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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!

Screw Texting

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This is a song about the disconnect between someone on a phone and someone not. I was really inspired to write this song as I walked through a grocery store and almost got whacked by some guys shopping cart as he laughed and texted to someone. That shit is dangerous – and i see people texting all the time when I am driving. I would say that is just as bad as drunken driving. One time i stood on an overpass in LA and 13 out of 30 cars were distracted drivers. Just zipping by doing 80 and texting. Shit be crazy. So this song explores the texting dilemma in a the form of a confused love song.  I felt this would make the song most intimate and revealing to do it in this way. I think I achieved what I was going for – you tell me. I will be posting the video tomorrow. Enjoy!

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Stop texting

When we are talking

There is nothing

Better to do

–

Feel like I am dying

Cause I am holding

I am holding my breathe

for you

–

Your friends calling

Just ignoring

All l the little words

I try

–

It feels vacant

In this party

Yeah this group

Of just me and you

–

It just kills me to hear you say

–

Don’t go

I wont go if there is a reason for me to stay

Don’t stay

I won’t stay if there is a reason for me to go

(Repeat)

–

I fight feelings

We have outgrown these

Damn phones

Lets throw them away

–

What could make you

So happy

Looking at that

Box in your hand

–

Fingers punching

Always talking

While your lips

Have nothing to say

–

It so quiet

In the room now

That the phone is

all tucked away

–

We can just talk another day

Elkhart’s Eternal Flame

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Late night band practice in Goshen, IN led to a midnight drive to South Bend. Even at the late hour you can see the flame burning off of the highway in Elkhart. It reminds me of how that thing burns 24/7 and how we are filling it with every step that we take. So this is a short poem about where it all took me.

 

Elkhart’s Eternal Flame

–

Elkhart’s Eternal Flame

Lights my mind up every time

Drives me insane

The heap of garbage burning bright

The smell that seeps out

Lets you know something’s not right

Trash carving it’s way in Midwest trees

Coming from all over the land

From the mountains and the seas

Landfills in Indiana seem to run a plenty

Follow your nose and you will find

One, two, and oh so many

As with all trash it must be disposed

Where exactly it goes

I can’t say anyone really knows

But on a Tuesday night the flame glows

On highway 20 when you see it

You will know

Blue flickers orange pops red in too

Depending on where the wind blows

Is where all the scent blows to

Racing over fields and famers

Streams and trees

Through our nostrils

Into you and me

Into our lungs and through our livers

Into your soul giving you shivers

Into our blood

Through the water that we drink

Bubbling up through the faucets and the sinks

Shame should fill the hearts of the waste

But toss it in the trash

And don’t really face it

The next time you waste

All the trash that you disclaim

I may see it burning one day

In Elkhart’s Eternal Flame

Futile to Fertile

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Spring is right around the corner. On a warm spring day this came to me as I relished in the final days of winter. Those days are some of my favorite of the year. Enjoy!

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Winter days fade

Into spring

Quiet mornings

Where the birds

Sing

The final snow

Begins to melt

And fade away

Winter is moving out

And

Must be on its way

For today

I admire

The winter cold

Windy gnarly

And brutal

My attempts to leave the Midwest

Always seem to be

Futile

Until the fertile lands

Of spring bloom

Once again

Bring back

Warmth and summers moon

All of this will be back

Very soon

And soon indeed

It will bring me joy

A young child

With a brand new toy

To run around under the sun

My heart swells

When it is warm

How the feelings come back to me

On this winters morn’

Damn these Grocery Isles

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I was left in turmoil, searching for croutons at the local grocery mart. I have found that you can not find simple croutons – by simple croutons I mean the real toasted bread stuff for salads – not the overly chemically treated flavor enhancing shit. I will pass on that. But who am I anyways just some major corporations test rat? Well here is to you corporate USA, and your bullshit croutons.

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Damn these grocery isles

Full of shit

For miles and miles

High fructose, maltodextrin, and corn syrup

Oh the additives

When it comes to mind

My soul is stripped of superlatives

–

All the great fields and planes

This is the food we eat

To fill our bellies

With such great disdain

Chemically induced sudden pain

–

Full of hydrogenated oil

The corporations want more money

They save a penny

Wrapping it in foil

–

Up and down I walk

No one to ask

I don’t even want to talk

I am filled with bitter remorse

For what people will by

For the main course

–

Of course there are options

Not when it comes to croutons

Croutons

Croutons

No?

I want some so

Filled to the brim with MSG

Forbidden additives to sustain shelf life

And the bottom line

–

The corporate mission

Corporate moguls feed me shit

While in 5 star restaurants they sit

Shit

In skyscrapers

Content and careful the scheme they run

The paychecks they are sent

–

It is $30 tonight

A couple of items

I will move on and write in a poem

Because that is the only way

For me

To forget ’em

Political Constipation

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This is a poem inspired by the absolute ridiculousness of political grid lock. I care not for a side and for no person – but for the overall lack of enthusiasm to work as a whole unit. In a way that the body can only truly function if it all works together. I am not sure where all of this shit is going to take us, but my optimism is waning. I wrote this as much for the humor as for the literal sense. I tried to capture the disgust for which I feel
for the current situation. Maybe I did, maybe I didn’t, but I enjoyed trying! Enjoy!

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Upon us is The Great Sequestration!

Ode to the amazing political constipation!

This is no nation of procrastination and indignation!

But rather a great land

Of sensation and flirtation

With capitalism

And now possible stagnation!

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The political bowel filled with dense matter

And the while the belly of the great nation

Grows fatter and fatter

But who really wants to ask

What is the matter?

Surely it can’t be

An infection of the bladder

–

It is the anus

Filled and discontent

No one wants to work

To lift the great clog

The almighty circumvent!

–

To move past political lines

Dine of much higher fair, politicians

The real moving kind

The sledge of procrastination

Must be cast into the toilet bowl

Worry not if it will over flow

–

It is time for change

Of the diet we consume

Must surely change

Grow and support

Greater endeavors

But it can not be just some broke ass poet

Who can be oh so clever

Ask yourself today

What are you willing to do for tomorrow

To cast away this fowl sorrow

To stitch the times that have grown to divide

And I will surely be

On your side

 

Shit My World is on Fire

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Here is a song that I wrote about how sometimes you let things go just a bit too long in your life before you decide that something has to be done. In a similar fashion as to that one time I was in college and left the pizza in the oven and forgot about it. I take a light hearted look at what an angel could do in that moment also – how it would really help because when shit hits the roof – you could definitely use some help in getting life back in order. So this is called “Shit My World is on Fire”. Enjoy!

Shit My World is on Fire

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Well I’ve been thinking

About all this time up here

I’ve been wasting

The thing I do and say

Well I am no Angel

But if you see on please

Send her my way

She can save me from all of the trouble

I’ve been making

It would be so much fun

I’m just sayin’

–

Whoa oh oh

I look around and

Shit!

My world is on fire

Who oh oh

I can make it out

But only with an angel

Whoa oh oh

Look around and see

She can only take me higher

Whoa oh oh

Drink in that sun

My world is on fire!

–

That got me thinking

When God made this world

She was kinda funny

Now I am just running around now

Making Monday

But there ain’t no way

It ain’t that easy

Just take me and break me destroy me and build me up later

Take a quick minute and pass me

Your lifesaver!

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Whoa oh oh

I look around and

Shit!

My world is on fire

Who oh oh

I can make it out

But only with an angel

Whoa oh oh

Look around and see

She can only take me higher

Whoa oh oh

Drink in that sun

My world is on fire!

–

Whoa oh oh

I look around and

Shit!

My world is on fire

Who oh oh

I can make it out

But only with an angel

Whoa oh oh

Look around and see

She can only take me higher

Whoa oh oh

Drink in that sun

My world is on fire!

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Oh my world is on Fire

Fire

Fire

Oh my world is on

Fire

Fire

My world is on fire

 

I hope to have more videos and songs up with descriptions soon so stay tuned. I am casually working on a possible full length album as my first commitment is The Bergamot. A Pop/Rock duo and we play with a full 6 piece band so we can have killer dance parties. Check us out and listen to our entire catalog of work at http://www.thebergamot.com! Cheers!