On to the next one...

Tonight we got the final slam of the season for LA Brass Knuckles. Tomorrow night is the semis for the LA Da Poetry Lounge 2011 team. Featuring this Thursday at Glassless Minds in Oceanside 7pm (219 North Coast Hwy. oceanside, CA 92054.)

thanks for the love and support!!!

here are some pics from last weeks Bakery Lounge feature

Past, Present, and Future

here's a random picture of me sitting on the face of a mountain.

now onto the serious stuff...



Hey ya'll had a great weekend.

PAST
Saturday I brought the fun at Saddleback Churchs worship conference with poems and a workshop. Some of the 30 or so kids in the workshop shared their poems. Youth cut deep with poems about alcoholic fathers, mourning the loss of a younger brother, and missing their grandpa. Further proof that there is much more going on beneath the surface.

Then last night a benefit show to send a friend to Papua New Ginea. Again, another crazy fun night and got to share the stage with friends in Live Oak Revue and Nicole Vaughn and her lovely band. More exciting than a pinata full of adrenaline.


PRESENT
Tonight Ill be slamming in the semi-finals for the Brass Knuckles national team.
4343 Leimert Park, Los Angeles. Be there by 830pm. $5


FUTURE
Some future feature dates:

March 10: Feature @ The Bakery Lounge in North Hollywood. 8pm I believe

March 24: Feature @ Glassless Minds in Oceanside. 8pm I believe

May 5: Feature @ Elevated in San Diego. Get in line by 830pm, doors @ 9pm



Thats all for now folks. as always, email me at rootedinlove@gmail.com for more info and booking.

Big Love!
Nick

The Bear & The Cross

My new chapbook, The Bear & The Cross is out now. $10 at shows or email me for a copy.

Upcoming Shows Part 1

Friday, June 25th
7pm
Team Feature At Lost Souls
Hosted by Teneale Bender
124 West 4th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90013-1308
(this venue is in Harlem Place alley between Spring and Main)



Wednesday, June 30th
9pm
Team Feature at Zanzibar
"Reflection"
Hosted by Joshua Silverstein
1301 5th Street
Santa Monica, CA 90401




Thursday, July 1st
9pm
Team Feature at Elevated
Hosted by Chris Wilson
@ Eveoke Dance Theatre
2811 University ave
San Diego, CA

Little Big Dreams

Build a fort in my heart.

Keep your television, just give me the box.

Remember when playing pretend was more important than reality.

Grow old with me.

Create a lifetime of adventures that nobody needs to know about.

Let everybody know.

See me.

Look into the blender I mix my emotions in.

Drink me down.

Tell me which flavors are your favorite and which you never want to taste again.

Seriously.

Hold me up to the sun and squint though me.

When your eyes do not tingle electric
You will know what lengths I will go to shield you
From anything that might harm you.

LA Slam Team

Last night I slammed onto the LA Slam team via Brass Knuckles @ Kaos. I came in second place right behind the lovely Nikki BLAK and am joined by fellow teammates Judy Holiday, Mr. Poetic, and Daniel Weingarten. It was a hard fight to make the team and I am so thankful for the challange, the people, and the words. We're reppin LA at nationals in August! Kill it!

Fell In Like With A Girl

You found me
In the light
At the end
Of the tunnel

Drenched in new church
Pulling bicycle kicks from
My claims to being champion

You asked me if I was a holy man.
I said, “Not anymore.”
“Not anymore,” I said
Now
Now I just pray my heartbeat into better poems
And admire the moon for her perfection

That was ok with you
That was ok

Said you couldn’t imagine
How much perfection it would take
To earn the love of God
So you didn’t imagine God

Your brain worked like that
Always dealing in absolutes
Like gravity and red wine and ketchup

Though neither of us danced
We did around our fears
That night
Researched phobias
Split the firewood in our sides
With the axe of our laughter

When I had to wake up
2 hours after
Our first kiss
Every yawn that followed
Was worth it.

You were worth it.

And I told you I thought
You mumbled halos better
Than any angel wore them.

Told you I saw sunsets in your awkward
Even if you ignored them

And that I knew that you were not broken
You just weren’t standing tall

That’s when you spilled
Your guts like a mostly
Empty water glass
Told me how
Somebody hadn’t caught your heart
When it fell for them
And it broke into pieces
Like scattering schools of fish
Trying to breath life
From those few splattered drops
Left evaporating

I held your hand
Said I was never very good at catching things
But that I would learn
I would get bigger hands
I would try

You sat quite
I wondered what you were feeling

Told me that you kept your feelings
Like state secrets.
You’d have to kill me if you shared them

And then you left

I’d gotten used to the way your fingerprints blurred my vision
So now that you’ve gone, things are coming back into focus
Or something like it
And I am realizing I woke up too fast
Got dizzy
My smile claiming narcolepsy
When asked why it keeps lying down

When that excuse no longer fools anyone
I will blame sushi
Because we never got to
Or the window that stopped your forehead
Before you could gaze down onto the floor
Or Eiffel towers that only serve food from New York

You’re the only one that’ll get that
You’re the only one that has to

And you,
Though you only walked my line
For 8 weeks
You reminded me how much fun life can be


So that night when you decided to go
I tucked a note into the fold of your coat that read

You’ve got to give your heart permission to love again!
And maybe a little wiggle room to grow…
I know that
We’re all runnin’ from something, we just
Don’t have to run alone.