[Music]
what if I told you all you had to do in
life is concentrate more on what you
want and less of what you don’t want
change your thinking to change your
reality what if every time you thought
about the worst-case scenario you’d
switch to think about the best possible
situation what if all you knew was tore
down in a second hole have become–well
Wanda your husband and every child you
can see if it turned into Hutus and
Tutsis where scream like machetes hi
Thomas moments into tears would you run
to the bottle ball up in the corner I’ll
rebuild what if one day you woke up
rondalee dragged yourself to the
bathroom compares your toothbrush for
the teeth cleaning looked in the mirror
and saw God before you your four year
old daughters Dorrit explore a
battery-operated to freshen mouth spit
in toothpaste slopping down sharing eyes
well let’s me be here looking like crazy
while monkey sex hanging from the
rafters is God what would you say to God
at that moment and what would you say
back to God when God stops you before
you got out of an excuse for being
unprepared to meet your maker and says I
am not satisfied with your life I am not
satisfied with your life because you are
not satisfied with your life and I don’t
create mistakes unless I need a good
laugh you my friend are not funny what
if the mirror told Judah you are the
cause and effect of everything that
happens that you are the son moments
Miller the world the possibilities you
put into your solar system with the
gravity of thoughts that when you
concentrate on what you don’t want you
pull it into orbit where all that you do
individually those worlds will collide
what if I told you that every moment
spent complaining and wishing things was
different as a moment wasted in your
life which is so precious like looking
down a barrel gun makes you talk about a
prayer and your mr. computer open that’s
just enough time to press send the god
mark urgent before the bullet explodes
sending all that you know into the space
behind you why waste this time
complaining about things you want to
change change them or move on tomorrow
is a small child wanting to give you
everything you ever wanted there like
that all at once in return is a hug
embrace it welcoming every moment so
that poem I wrote that poem
[Applause]
alright let me rephrase that Buddha says
Gotham of the Buddha says that misery is
living in the past
I’m having anxiety about the future it’s
like misery to be miserable is to want
what you had in the past are to have
some desired outcome for the future said
COFA is the word from ghana
it literally means go and get it bring
it back you know it literally is
supposed to be when you see the Sankofa
symbol it’s a bird with a head turn
backwards and the precious jewel in this
mouth and what it’s doing is it’s
grabbing the history grabbing the
culture grabbing the lessons learned
from the past bringing it in the
president so you not don’t make the same
mistakes in the future when I wrote that
poem the poem is about being present
it’s about being in a moment not being
here right now when I wrote that poem I
was miserable
I wrote that poem because I was
miserable I wrote that poem because I
was living in the past in 2005 I had won
this international poetry contest which
put me on a two-year tour around around
the country and I will go away for ten
days and come back for ten days and go
away for ten days and come back for ten
days and I and I had two daughters I
still have two daughters I had you guys
I still have two guards but um and I had
so I have two daughters and I realized I
was missing my kid’s life and I would
come home for ten days but I don’t know
if any of y’all my parents out there but
if you are if you go home go away for
ten days and come back for ten days you
know that when you get home you need
like two three days worth of rest and I
think my daughter was six the oldest one
the youngest one was six the oldest one
was ten or nine and you you’re not
getting any rest with uh two girls it’s
just this fight and so when I decided I
would do is one day I decided I was just
sit on the couch and watch them and I
would write everything that they said
and I will create a poem out of their
words so
when I go back on tour I can take their
words with me and that was the poll the
one the Dora the Explorer and all that
stuff that was the phone and so after
like two years of touring I decided I
had enough I had to come home I had to
be home and I decided that I was in my
tour right here in Providence so I got
my daughter’s they came to my shows my
daughter’s been coming to my shows on
all their lives in fact one of them is
in the audience now and I’m sitting down
and I’m performing now I feed off the
energy of the crowd I feed off if I’m
looking at you and you’re looking at me
pensive I get pensive if I’m looking at
you and you’re happy and and excited
then I get happy and excited like the
smile over that’s beautiful you know I
can see that I’m smiling so I’m looking
out in the audience and I come across
this little girl who was my daughter and
she’s like this and I’m like what did I
do you know and so I keep going I keep
going I keep going and then my oldest
daughter gets up and walks out the room
and now I’m like concerned because you
know I’m losing I’m losing the audience
of my daughter’s then I don’t know
what’s going on and anybody else is mine
and so when the performance was over I
go to my daughter and I say ah sure um
everything all right
she says daddy you owe me money what do
you mean I’ll owe you money she said
everything he did on our stage was a
conversation between me and my sister
and that’s plagiarism you owe me money
[Applause]
so I said you ain’t getting no money but
we came to an agreement and the
agreement was that I would write her a
poem and the poem that I wrote was
specifically for her it was I couldn’t
do it anywhere else I can only do it for
her for a period of two years I’m not
interested in hearing up on I’m not
interested in hearing that ball all
right let me take you where the wild
things are
together we’ll discover where the
sidewalk ends Wow singing silly mnemonic
songs reminding us the places we can
only imagine going like mrs. Venus it’s
messy jelly sandwiches using nine
plastic spoons at the end of our journey
was selling to the giving tree
talk about Amelia Bedelia alex is very
bad day and Harold’s Purple Crayon will
have Stone Soup for lunch on top of
spaghetti all covered with cheese into
the ants go marching one by one I want
to keep you at a time with all the
world’s a rainbow where New York towers
and London bridges never fall down when
you happen you know it so much the
clapping of hands is stopping the feet
resonates as earthquakes in China
proving it’s a small world after all
when your secret garden is the size of a
jungle book you realize the
twinkle-twinkle of it every star is not
you’re wondering how far up in the sky
but the greatness we see behind each
other’s eyes and when that happens
little boys that never worry about being
the only baa baa black sheep in the room
and little girls are never worried about
Old MacDonald having anything in his
pocket but a smile I once heard a kid
say there are two types of humans
children and people see children are
like letters in the alphabet all of the
children could get along because all
could be sung to the tune of the same
song and bam there was a light in the
Attic as I said to myself somewhere in
the aging process our innocence becomes
lost boys following Peter Pan what a
wonderful world if we never grew up if
we always remain little engines that
could create our own wonderland what if
we never became precocious bonus from
our heads shoulders knees and toes and
like the letters of the alphabet the
more we get together the happier we
would be so come with me let me take you
what a while things are so now there was
a single rainbow over in the meadow
way out west in Kansas so that’s not
long
so if anybody like the hola everybody
that knows me knows that I can’t sit
still you know it’s not in my nature to
sit though I I just you know if I’m
sitting still I’m still for days but
when I’m moving I’m moving so I had this
job I was bartending I was doing all
this stuff I was doing a daddy thing I
was trying to you know be a responsible
parent and I was miserable again and the
reason I was miserable was because I
actually liked performing I liked the
stage I liked being in front of people I
liked sharing stories I liked talking to
people and getting feedback from people
and being a branch and it just wasn’t
doing it for me and a friend of mine you
know just other you know the out of the
blue decided that she would take me to
go see a psychic and I’m talking to this
psychic and the psychic is looking at me
and she’s like yeah you’re miserable and
I’m like everyone sees that I’m
miserable this is not you’re not telling
me anything
you know you’re not telling me anything
that I don’t know already and and she
says well you’re not using your full
potential you’re not doing what you’re
supposed to be doing if he was doing
what you were supposed to be doing you
wouldn’t be miserable so she gave me an
assignment she said she went she told me
to take out my journal and to go out and
stay present in the moment if I hear
something that I like write it down if I
see something that I like or an image
write it down just be in a moment right
now everything that I could possibly
write down that was going on at that
moment if I if I heard a conversation
between two people on the bus right
there on something that I found funny so
I went in did this and then after you
know about a weekend I went to the
lizard launch forward she swam and I
don’t know if y’all noticed how many
people know about poetry slam all right
doesn’t feel y’all out there so slam is
the slam is a young man’s game
and um I was well over 40 at this point
and so I’m in there and I’m looking you
know trying to figure out where where
I’m at what I’m gonna do
I’m gonna make this happen and I get
past the first round then I go go into
the second round I get past the second
round and that was this guy who I was
slamming against who was me and him in
the third round and he was good like he
was really good and he was like 24 and
good and and I was nervous because I
knew what I had and I didn’t have
anything I didn’t think I had anything
that could beat him and so I remember
what the psychic said and I go back to
my table and I’m looking through my
journal and I’m looking at all of these
things and I’m trying to piece together
something in my mind real quick and I
did is a freestyle it’s like a freestyle
hip-hop anybody knows hip-hop even you
fleets down that you just come off the
top of your head I took these these
lines and freestyle a poem y’all
interested in hearing that poem all
right before I give you that poem can we
do call a response all right I’m from
New Jersey originally New Jersey lives
in the shadow of New York and Philly
we got Napoleon complex you know we have
the same where we would say we’re going
to perform in front of everyone we’re
going to perform in front of one person
like they’re 1,000 people the thing is
you got to sound like 1,000 people
coming back at me so okay are we gonna
do call a response it’s like nine
hundred and forty second thing is how
many people have been to church not
Church church Church is what happens
below the mason-dixon line Church is
what happens when the preacher says
something that you say something back to
the feature we’re about to go to church
I say spoken you say we’re smoking what
happened to 1,000 I say spoken you say
well spoken spoken I say take it you say
how you take it
smoking take it smoke it take it all I
have your life is right now right now I
don’t know what’s gonna happen because
there are a lot of right now
happening right now but I do know I like
to make this now the best now it could
possibly be and you can help me by
repeating after me
so please repeat after me I dedicate
this perfect now to being the best now
it could possibly be
we don’t have time to concern ourselves
with the petty things in life minimizing
our now’s a friend of mine was told me
there are a plethora of a personality
types in the world one deputy max factor
in life meeting assholes is unavoidable
assholes have a one purpose to poop and
they will poop on you with no regard
simply because that’s who they are
assholes
but assholes position low on a body when
you have to be lower than asshole in
order to be picked on by one so the
chick to avoid being poop dawn is the
never allow yourself to be lower than an
asshole please repeat after me again I
have no time to be pooped on
because all I have is now and cleaning
up other people’s poop is time-consuming
another friend was asking me yo when you
conform whether you breathe from I don’t
know I said from my stomach from my
lungs
wrong answer he replied when you breathe
inhale from the edge of the universe
start from the limits of all that you
know then breathe deeper smell pineapple
Hawaii double in New Orleans find out if
starlight is just a guide part because
the Big Bang could have been a bad case
of gas we can’t think past our
vocabulary but we can imagine what
doesn’t exist think about it the
automobile at all of his parts at one
time with just thoughts thoughts are
real the physical is illusion
stretch your mental limitations imagine
what you want believe and it will be
like I believe I can fit infinity into
now cuz you will remember me like I will
remember you as being one of the
greatest audiences I ever performed in
front of it we will remember this is one
of the greatest moments of our lives so
good we just can’t wait to go tell
somebody who would tell somebody who
would tell somebody who would tell
somebody making us all immortal please
repeat after me one last time we are
here now because now is where we are
supposed to be immortality happens in
our hearts but we live in our minds have
you ever had an argument with someone to
start a very same approach to service a
moment ago somebody saw two totally
different currencies it’s all perception
reality is exactly how you perceive the
problem is we are all entitled to our
own perceptions life should be paradise
hell is your life gone wrong impossible
is just the stuff you haven’t done yet
did get a goldfish when kept in a small
bowl it can only grow to a size
comfortable to its environment but once
you set that goldfish free it will go
two and three times its size grow past
all that you know to increase the
qualities of your nouns
inhale inspiration exhale wonder
remember right now is all you have so
constantly ask yourself how can I make
this now the best now it can possibly be
[Applause]
so the end of the story is I won the
slam yeah I did and and I have to give
credit just being present in the moment
because you know if I hadn’t been
thinking about what time did I write
before what poem could I possibly do I
would have lost that slam so one other
ways I just wanted to say that being
president being in a moment it’s a great
thing to do I would say I would say try
it if you can if not you know thank you
very much
[Applause]
what if I told you all you had to do in
life is concentrate more on what you
want and less of what you don’t want
change your thinking to change your
reality what if every time you thought
about the worst-case scenario you’d
switch to think about the best possible
situation what if all you knew was tore
down in a second hole have become–well
Wanda your husband and every child you
can see if it turned into Hutus and
Tutsis where scream like machetes hi
Thomas moments into tears would you run
to the bottle ball up in the corner I’ll
rebuild what if one day you woke up
rondalee dragged yourself to the
bathroom compares your toothbrush for
the teeth cleaning looked in the mirror
and saw God before you your four year
old daughters Dorrit explore a
battery-operated to freshen mouth spit
in toothpaste slopping down sharing eyes
well let’s me be here looking like crazy
while monkey sex hanging from the
rafters is God what would you say to God
at that moment and what would you say
back to God when God stops you before
you got out of an excuse for being
unprepared to meet your maker and says I
am not satisfied with your life I am not
satisfied with your life because you are
not satisfied with your life and I don’t
create mistakes unless I need a good
laugh you my friend are not funny what
if the mirror told Judah you are the
cause and effect of everything that
happens that you are the son moments
Miller the world the possibilities you
put into your solar system with the
gravity of thoughts that when you
concentrate on what you don’t want you
pull it into orbit where all that you do
individually those worlds will collide
what if I told you that every moment
spent complaining and wishing things was
different as a moment wasted in your
life which is so precious like looking
down a barrel gun makes you talk about a
prayer and your mr. computer open that’s
just enough time to press send the god
mark urgent before the bullet explodes
sending all that you know into the space
behind you why waste this time
complaining about things you want to
change change them or move on tomorrow
is a small child wanting to give you
everything you ever wanted there like
that all at once in return is a hug
embrace it welcoming every moment so
that poem I wrote that poem
[Applause]
alright let me rephrase that Buddha says
Gotham of the Buddha says that misery is
living in the past
I’m having anxiety about the future it’s
like misery to be miserable is to want
what you had in the past are to have
some desired outcome for the future said
COFA is the word from ghana
it literally means go and get it bring
it back you know it literally is
supposed to be when you see the Sankofa
symbol it’s a bird with a head turn
backwards and the precious jewel in this
mouth and what it’s doing is it’s
grabbing the history grabbing the
culture grabbing the lessons learned
from the past bringing it in the
president so you not don’t make the same
mistakes in the future when I wrote that
poem the poem is about being present
it’s about being in a moment not being
here right now when I wrote that poem I
was miserable
I wrote that poem because I was
miserable I wrote that poem because I
was living in the past in 2005 I had won
this international poetry contest which
put me on a two-year tour around around
the country and I will go away for ten
days and come back for ten days and go
away for ten days and come back for ten
days and I and I had two daughters I
still have two daughters I had you guys
I still have two guards but um and I had
so I have two daughters and I realized I
was missing my kid’s life and I would
come home for ten days but I don’t know
if any of y’all my parents out there but
if you are if you go home go away for
ten days and come back for ten days you
know that when you get home you need
like two three days worth of rest and I
think my daughter was six the oldest one
the youngest one was six the oldest one
was ten or nine and you you’re not
getting any rest with uh two girls it’s
just this fight and so when I decided I
would do is one day I decided I was just
sit on the couch and watch them and I
would write everything that they said
and I will create a poem out of their
words so
when I go back on tour I can take their
words with me and that was the poll the
one the Dora the Explorer and all that
stuff that was the phone and so after
like two years of touring I decided I
had enough I had to come home I had to
be home and I decided that I was in my
tour right here in Providence so I got
my daughter’s they came to my shows my
daughter’s been coming to my shows on
all their lives in fact one of them is
in the audience now and I’m sitting down
and I’m performing now I feed off the
energy of the crowd I feed off if I’m
looking at you and you’re looking at me
pensive I get pensive if I’m looking at
you and you’re happy and and excited
then I get happy and excited like the
smile over that’s beautiful you know I
can see that I’m smiling so I’m looking
out in the audience and I come across
this little girl who was my daughter and
she’s like this and I’m like what did I
do you know and so I keep going I keep
going I keep going and then my oldest
daughter gets up and walks out the room
and now I’m like concerned because you
know I’m losing I’m losing the audience
of my daughter’s then I don’t know
what’s going on and anybody else is mine
and so when the performance was over I
go to my daughter and I say ah sure um
everything all right
she says daddy you owe me money what do
you mean I’ll owe you money she said
everything he did on our stage was a
conversation between me and my sister
and that’s plagiarism you owe me money
[Applause]
so I said you ain’t getting no money but
we came to an agreement and the
agreement was that I would write her a
poem and the poem that I wrote was
specifically for her it was I couldn’t
do it anywhere else I can only do it for
her for a period of two years I’m not
interested in hearing up on I’m not
interested in hearing that ball all
right let me take you where the wild
things are
together we’ll discover where the
sidewalk ends Wow singing silly mnemonic
songs reminding us the places we can
only imagine going like mrs. Venus it’s
messy jelly sandwiches using nine
plastic spoons at the end of our journey
was selling to the giving tree
talk about Amelia Bedelia alex is very
bad day and Harold’s Purple Crayon will
have Stone Soup for lunch on top of
spaghetti all covered with cheese into
the ants go marching one by one I want
to keep you at a time with all the
world’s a rainbow where New York towers
and London bridges never fall down when
you happen you know it so much the
clapping of hands is stopping the feet
resonates as earthquakes in China
proving it’s a small world after all
when your secret garden is the size of a
jungle book you realize the
twinkle-twinkle of it every star is not
you’re wondering how far up in the sky
but the greatness we see behind each
other’s eyes and when that happens
little boys that never worry about being
the only baa baa black sheep in the room
and little girls are never worried about
Old MacDonald having anything in his
pocket but a smile I once heard a kid
say there are two types of humans
children and people see children are
like letters in the alphabet all of the
children could get along because all
could be sung to the tune of the same
song and bam there was a light in the
Attic as I said to myself somewhere in
the aging process our innocence becomes
lost boys following Peter Pan what a
wonderful world if we never grew up if
we always remain little engines that
could create our own wonderland what if
we never became precocious bonus from
our heads shoulders knees and toes and
like the letters of the alphabet the
more we get together the happier we
would be so come with me let me take you
what a while things are so now there was
a single rainbow over in the meadow
way out west in Kansas so that’s not
long
so if anybody like the hola everybody
that knows me knows that I can’t sit
still you know it’s not in my nature to
sit though I I just you know if I’m
sitting still I’m still for days but
when I’m moving I’m moving so I had this
job I was bartending I was doing all
this stuff I was doing a daddy thing I
was trying to you know be a responsible
parent and I was miserable again and the
reason I was miserable was because I
actually liked performing I liked the
stage I liked being in front of people I
liked sharing stories I liked talking to
people and getting feedback from people
and being a branch and it just wasn’t
doing it for me and a friend of mine you
know just other you know the out of the
blue decided that she would take me to
go see a psychic and I’m talking to this
psychic and the psychic is looking at me
and she’s like yeah you’re miserable and
I’m like everyone sees that I’m
miserable this is not you’re not telling
me anything
you know you’re not telling me anything
that I don’t know already and and she
says well you’re not using your full
potential you’re not doing what you’re
supposed to be doing if he was doing
what you were supposed to be doing you
wouldn’t be miserable so she gave me an
assignment she said she went she told me
to take out my journal and to go out and
stay present in the moment if I hear
something that I like write it down if I
see something that I like or an image
write it down just be in a moment right
now everything that I could possibly
write down that was going on at that
moment if I if I heard a conversation
between two people on the bus right
there on something that I found funny so
I went in did this and then after you
know about a weekend I went to the
lizard launch forward she swam and I
don’t know if y’all noticed how many
people know about poetry slam all right
doesn’t feel y’all out there so slam is
the slam is a young man’s game
and um I was well over 40 at this point
and so I’m in there and I’m looking you
know trying to figure out where where
I’m at what I’m gonna do
I’m gonna make this happen and I get
past the first round then I go go into
the second round I get past the second
round and that was this guy who I was
slamming against who was me and him in
the third round and he was good like he
was really good and he was like 24 and
good and and I was nervous because I
knew what I had and I didn’t have
anything I didn’t think I had anything
that could beat him and so I remember
what the psychic said and I go back to
my table and I’m looking through my
journal and I’m looking at all of these
things and I’m trying to piece together
something in my mind real quick and I
did is a freestyle it’s like a freestyle
hip-hop anybody knows hip-hop even you
fleets down that you just come off the
top of your head I took these these
lines and freestyle a poem y’all
interested in hearing that poem all
right before I give you that poem can we
do call a response all right I’m from
New Jersey originally New Jersey lives
in the shadow of New York and Philly
we got Napoleon complex you know we have
the same where we would say we’re going
to perform in front of everyone we’re
going to perform in front of one person
like they’re 1,000 people the thing is
you got to sound like 1,000 people
coming back at me so okay are we gonna
do call a response it’s like nine
hundred and forty second thing is how
many people have been to church not
Church church Church is what happens
below the mason-dixon line Church is
what happens when the preacher says
something that you say something back to
the feature we’re about to go to church
I say spoken you say we’re smoking what
happened to 1,000 I say spoken you say
well spoken spoken I say take it you say
how you take it
smoking take it smoke it take it all I
have your life is right now right now I
don’t know what’s gonna happen because
there are a lot of right now
happening right now but I do know I like
to make this now the best now it could
possibly be and you can help me by
repeating after me
so please repeat after me I dedicate
this perfect now to being the best now
it could possibly be
we don’t have time to concern ourselves
with the petty things in life minimizing
our now’s a friend of mine was told me
there are a plethora of a personality
types in the world one deputy max factor
in life meeting assholes is unavoidable
assholes have a one purpose to poop and
they will poop on you with no regard
simply because that’s who they are
assholes
but assholes position low on a body when
you have to be lower than asshole in
order to be picked on by one so the
chick to avoid being poop dawn is the
never allow yourself to be lower than an
asshole please repeat after me again I
have no time to be pooped on
because all I have is now and cleaning
up other people’s poop is time-consuming
another friend was asking me yo when you
conform whether you breathe from I don’t
know I said from my stomach from my
lungs
wrong answer he replied when you breathe
inhale from the edge of the universe
start from the limits of all that you
know then breathe deeper smell pineapple
Hawaii double in New Orleans find out if
starlight is just a guide part because
the Big Bang could have been a bad case
of gas we can’t think past our
vocabulary but we can imagine what
doesn’t exist think about it the
automobile at all of his parts at one
time with just thoughts thoughts are
real the physical is illusion
stretch your mental limitations imagine
what you want believe and it will be
like I believe I can fit infinity into
now cuz you will remember me like I will
remember you as being one of the
greatest audiences I ever performed in
front of it we will remember this is one
of the greatest moments of our lives so
good we just can’t wait to go tell
somebody who would tell somebody who
would tell somebody who would tell
somebody making us all immortal please
repeat after me one last time we are
here now because now is where we are
supposed to be immortality happens in
our hearts but we live in our minds have
you ever had an argument with someone to
start a very same approach to service a
moment ago somebody saw two totally
different currencies it’s all perception
reality is exactly how you perceive the
problem is we are all entitled to our
own perceptions life should be paradise
hell is your life gone wrong impossible
is just the stuff you haven’t done yet
did get a goldfish when kept in a small
bowl it can only grow to a size
comfortable to its environment but once
you set that goldfish free it will go
two and three times its size grow past
all that you know to increase the
qualities of your nouns
inhale inspiration exhale wonder
remember right now is all you have so
constantly ask yourself how can I make
this now the best now it can possibly be
[Applause]
so the end of the story is I won the
slam yeah I did and and I have to give
credit just being present in the moment
because you know if I hadn’t been
thinking about what time did I write
before what poem could I possibly do I
would have lost that slam so one other
ways I just wanted to say that being
president being in a moment it’s a great
thing to do I would say I would say try
it if you can if not you know thank you
very much
[Applause]
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