Fire Island

Update... I wasn't a finalist in that stupid little online contest (it's a stupid little contest now because I didn't win).  But that's alright.  I can take rejection... story of my life.  Never stopped me before...  So I started a new job as the Manager of an Italian restaurant that's going to be opening mid-december.  I'll keep you guys posted, but it's in the Upper West Side, where no cool people go to hang out... and it's my job to try and get cool people to come hang out... to bring downtown chic, uptown.  This'll be quite a feat if I pull it off.

So here's another poem for the young hearts out there...  I know, I know, "another silly love poem?"  It's the holiday season!  We all get a little romantic around this time, no?

Meant to Rhyme

I wonder if you hear the strings

That excite the butterflies

And raise my feathers…

The beat, rhythm and intensity

Is the voice of this soul

Picking the chords…

One note,

At a

Time.

I wish to think your thoughts

That stir my appetite

And give me faith

Traces of you left behind

Almost hidden

But never lost…

One kiss

In my

Mind

I wish to be consumed

By your boundless shine,

Breezes to freeze time

This love knows no bounds

So distance waits

To close in…

Two dreams

Meant to

Rhyme,

Two hearts

Intertwined.

Hey Loop members and friends,

As you all know, I strive to be a non-conformist. I’d rather not work for someone.  If I could survive being an independent think tank, I probably would.  It’s a mine field out here for me, being without a real steady income… but it’s my bread and butter.  I’m currently on my way to starting my third company, a restaurant consulting firm. 

But on a side note, I’ve recently come up with a fairly simple idea/plan that I thought I’d submit to ideashappen.com.  You can be sure this is one of my many ideas, but this is one I didn’t mind sharing with the rest of the world, in the hope that I could win some kind of skill contest for the first time in my life.  So check it out here...

http://ideashappen.msn.com/Entries/Default.aspx?id=15668

If I even make it to the next round, you guys will have to vote for the actual winner.  In the meantime, gimme some feedback.  There’s a lot more detail to the idea, and if anyone was serious, I could come up with a damn good business plan for it (think of the Mudd trucks, but much more).  They only allow a 250 word essay, so the hardest task was getting it down that small.  As most of you probably know, my focus these days is on food.  I’m either going to make it or break it in this field.  also, if any of you have ideas of your own, you have 9 days left to pitch, to win some cash f*cken money.  And I need the money like Rjun needs an oxygen tank hiking up to Machu Picchu. (By the way Rjun, got nothing but love for you… holla at me when you’re back.)

Vote for me,
Your resident loop entrepreneur,
Dave

Okay... so for my next performance, I'd like to welcome to the stage everyone I've ever encountered, loved, lost, wanted, sang for, broke bread with, shared a bowl with, popped a pill with, bought a drink for (or bought a drink for me), cried for, and screamed at... it's all love... it's all love... I'm not perfect, we all make mistakes.  I wish some could forgive and forget, but I guess I understand if they can't. What I really mean to say is that life can be fleeting... do it... today... whatever it is you believe... make it happen.
 
If Not Now, When?
 
My will,
My love,
My strength,
Flow into each other
At times, contradicting each other
Like an impossible seamless quilt
A stitch-less blend of love and emotion
Compassion and affection interwoven
Needle and eye weaving in a wave like motion.
Just how mom used to sew,
This quilt, her devotion to me,
My devotion to you, you to each other,
Fanning those embers of life
Watching the ash turn bright, ready to ignite
Flames soaring high, burning bright
Hot boxin you into a lyrical journey
We’ve all boarded this non-stop flight,
Destination: an unforgettable poetic high
And it’s like that I get it started tonight…

And friends, thank you for flying with me,
Not a captain, just an amateur emcee
Speaking out in the name of our diversity
My words in your ear, hopefully, maybe,
Placing more purpose in that degree…
So that you learn it’s not all about the money (*ahem* sternies)
But to always carry your integrity.
It’s time for you to stand up and take notice
Take notice of issues not just your own
And become a collective being.
You see, to father and lead the world,
It’s more than just about seeing and agreeing,
Fat paychecks and business meetings,
Because my friend, those rewards are so often fleeting.
The world is in your hands!  It is your own!
There aren’t just a chosen few,
It’s in the hands of each and every one of you
Don’t just embrace it, feel it,
Just as I am learning to do…

And to feel, to express the greatest gift endowed to us,
All you need is one mic… one mic… like Nas said…
One mic, one beat, one stage,
One heart to rip it all apart, one shot to blaze up this art,
All it takes is love, I told you from the very start
To impart, this on each other, sister and brother…
But still with one mindset we stay torn
As if that’s the way we’re born, always warned
Of this person’s color and that person’s thorn
And our indifference now is our mourn for the unborn…
Cuz from the left, you hear me provide knowledge
And from your right it’s:
«If you don’t give a damn we don’t give a fuck
If you don’t give a damn we don’t give a fuck»
But lest you forget we are all fucked if you don’t give a damn!
Damned by your insolence
Damned by your disinterest
You said it was impossible to know
To predict the blows and engage the foe,
And with the dirty game’s ebb and flow,
Your soul got caught in the undertow
Washed away like life in a mental ghetto.

With knowledge, it’s time…
To ink your pens and open the blinds
Read in between as your write your rhymes,
Unchain your perspectives
And scream the injustice
Love like it’s your first,
Unrehearsed and unafraid of the worst
And always remember
Your potential is only as great as your thirst!
With one voice, let yourself be heard.
Act, baby, because if not now, when?
If not now, when?

Man, it's been a damn long time since I posted something. Didn't mean to leave you all hangin' but my life has gotten increasingly complicated as I tried harder and harder to simplify it.  I think things are starting to come around though... just trying to focus on what I need to do this summer... Gotta start that damn restaurant, gotta work out, gotta read more, gotta practice my guitar, gotta, gotta, yaddah, yaddah...

Anyway, this is a short poem I wrote this morning... about motivation and the daily exercise of trying to understand the forces that drive me... it's about love, people around me, it's about finding something meaningful in life.

Epiphany