Two Against the World

My brother has always been a huge part of my life. We've just always been rather close. Mostly due to the little age difference between us. I'v always kind of thought of him as more than just a brother though. I mean, he was basically my first friend. I taught the kid how to walk, talk, and even potty trained him. As we've gotten older though, I've started to realize that we're stuck with each other until one of us croaks one day. Until that day comes, it's going to be the two of us against the world.

I felt as if it would be fitting to entitle the poem, "Two Against the World" because, it sounded clutch and it fit oh so perfectly. No but for real, that title instantly popped into my head and the first word that popped into my head immediately right after was "Sick". Not like the I'm feeling woozy kind of sick but like the surfer dude who's constantly stoned kind of sick, if you catch my drift. Ha, get it? Not that I would know much about that stuff though. I mean, I've never even been out of state, let alone surfing while stoned.

After all was said and done, I was rather satisfied. The actual writing process was torture because, not only did I have to work on this blog post, but I also had to study for my math exam that I'm for sure going to bomb tomorrow. Needless to say, I'm a serious wreck right now but that's okay. I finally finished my very last blog post for this class and that is more important. Now please, take some time out of your day to support a struggling poet by reading this poem. 

                      “Two Against The World”

            For years,

            I've protected you,

            I taught you how to walk,

            I taught you how to talk,

            I taught you everything I know,

            You’re my only brother,

            But you've always been more than that,

            You've always had my back,

            And I've always had yours,

            In the end,

            It’s always going to be us vs them,

            It’s always going to be us two against the world.

Lies Upon Lies

This weeks blog post is dedicated to revealing lies that were taught to us in school. I thought that writing about this particular topic would be interesting because, I just love ruining peoples' childhoods. Well that and I just enjoy history in general. I know, weird right? Who in their right mind would enjoy something so bland? To that I say, who would enjoy remembering the Pythagorean theorem for years and not having any use for it? With some of these facts, you can do plenty of things. Like get into arguments with random drunks at a bar and start a huge scene. No but really, some of these facts will be heart wrenching and quite demoralizing so if you want to turn back do it now.

First off, we have Christopher Columbus. According to Christopher Klein, author of the article, "10 Things You May Not Know About Christopher Columbus", Columbus did not discover America. Long before Columbus, there was Leif Erickson. Erickson was a viking who discovered America around the late tenth century. Klein also states that Columbus did not prove that the world was round. In fact, Greek philosophers from as early as the sixth century B.C., discovered that the earth was not flat. Not only that but Klein goes on to say that Columbus also took some of the natives as slaves back to Spain.

Secondly, we have Abraham Lincoln. Before I say this, I would just like to point out that Lincoln is still one of my favorite Presidents. According to Sarah Pruitt, author of the article "5 Things You Might Not Know About Lincoln, Slavery, and Emancipation", Lincoln was in fact a racist. However, so was ninety percent of the American people at that time. Pruitt also states that Lincoln was no abolitionist. Although he thought it was morally wrong, he did not consider African Americans' to be his equal. Not only that but Pruitt goes on to say that Lincoln did not free the slaves out of his own good will. His primary motivation was to crush the South's military so that the North would have a larger chance of ending the Civil War.

Lastly, we have Albert Einstein. Einstein was not the worlds smartest man. Yes, you heard that right. Einstein himself stated that Nikola Tesla among all others was the worlds smartest man at that time. The Huffington Post's article "10 Surprising Facts About Albert Einstein", states that Einstein never failed any math class and was actually a rather gifted individual from birth. Some even considered him to be a prodigy in his younger years so the next time someone says "Einstein was an underachiever!", hit them with the facts. Also, enjoy this poem that I wrote. It'll change your life. 

                       “Lies Upon Lies”

            Growing up,

            I was always told that Christopher Columbus discovered America,

            I was told that he proved that the world was round instead of flat,

            I was told that he befriended the natives,

            Then I reached adulthood,

            Growing up,

            I was always told that Abraham Lincoln was an abolitionist,

            I was told that he thought of every African American to be his equal,

            I was told that he freed the slaves out of his own good will,

            Then I reached adulthood,

            Growing up,

            I was told that Einstein was the world’s smartest man,

            I was told that he flunked math and was always getting into trouble,

            I was told that he started out just like any underachiever would,

            Then I reached adulthood,

            And I came to realize that all of these things,

            Were nothing more than added lies,

            Lies added to protect their images,

            Lies added to ensure that as kids we would come to think these men as heroes,

            You know what they say,

            Everyone loves a hero,

            But after a while you start to wonder,

            With all of these lies piled up after another,

            It makes you wonder,

            What else have they lied to us about?

Start Over

For as long as I can remember, I've always wanted to get out of Michigan. I don't want to leave forever, but I could definitely use about a five year vacation to anywhere but here if you know what I mean. Maybe I'm just sick of doing the same things, seeing the same people and waking up to the same diesel operated truck that passes by my house every morning Monday through Friday at around six a.m. I just need to get away for a while. Now all I need to do is hit the lottery or give up on college. I know, both options don't really sound all that realistic but a guy can dream right?

Like I said before though, starting over has always been on my mind. I've always wanted to move far away from Michigan. I want to meet some new friends, find a cute girl, and just live my life the way it should be lived. I just want something new and exciting everyday. I don't want to surround myself with the same old repetitive stuff like I do now. One thing I feel as though would get to me after a while is missing my family. I've always been a "Homebody" if you will and me being away from home for that long would definitely create a bit of homesickness after a while. However, I feel as though I need to do something like move away for an extended period of time because, it's something exciting and crazy.Quite frankly I could use more of that in my life.

I wrote this poem in the hopes of it one day becoming a reality. As for now I guess I can only dream. I really enjoyed writing this poem because, it's about something that I'm rather passionate about. It wasn't all that difficult to write either which actually came as a bit of a surprise to me. Usually when writing about subjects that I truly care for, the writing process becomes a bit difficult because I'm a perfectionist. Everything has to flow right and if it doesn't then I feel as though the whole poem becomes flawed. However, my perfectionist oriented attitude actually made this poem quite good. Then again, that's only my opinion. I guess, I'm going to have to trust myself and hopefully you all will enjoy it.

"Start Over"

I’ve always wondered,

What it would be like,

To just get up and leave,

And never look back,

It’s time to start over,

I want to experience so many things,

Like how it feels to fly over the Pacific,

Or how Paris looks from atop the Eiffel Tower,

Or maybe even how it feels to have a one night stand in a shitty motel room,

It’s time to start over,

I want to feel like I don’t have a care in the world,

I want my parents to know that I do give a shit,

I want them to know they didn’t raise a failure,

It’s time I start taking life seriously,

It’s time to start living,

It’s time to start over.

To My Future Children

Lately I have been finding myself thinking about my future quite a bit. Which is weird considering that I'm normally more of a living in the moment kind of guy. You know whenever you're in a job interview and the employer asks you "Where do you see yourself in five years?". I could not honestly answer that question without lying because, I'm not exactly sure. Who am I kidding, I have no clue whatsoever. One thing that I do know is that I will hopefully someday have a couple of kids with a smoking hot significant other. For me personally, I have always felt as if I would be a great Dad. Mostly due to the fact that I'm rather understanding and chill when it comes to approaching intense situations. For example, if one of my kids told me he or she was gay I would respond by saying "Thank god! For a second there, I thought you were going to tell me that you were a drug dealer." The point is, I wouldn't care at all. They can be whoever they want to be and I'm never going to be able to change that. As long as they're happy, I'll be happy.

I entitled the poem "To My Future Children" because, I've always thought that it would have been kind of cool to look back on this in twenty years and see if any of this is still applicable at that point. It would also be pretty cool to show my kids when they're old enough to understand that their Dad was once a kid just like they were who had no idea what the hell was going on with his life. Without a doubt though this was probably the hardest and most fun poem to write. It was difficult because, I wasn't exactly sure with what to say exactly but fun because once everything was finished, I knew I had struck gold. Hopefully when the time comes I'll be able to show my kids this poem one day. As for now, please enjoy.

                                          “To My Future Children”

To my future children,

                        Come and tell me about your day,

                        I want to know how school went,

                        I want to know how many friends you made,

                        I want to know everything,

                        To my future children,

                        Please listen when I say,

                        Your childhood is going to be the greatest time of your life,

                        Live it up while you can,

                        Before you know it,

                        You’ll be old and bitter like me,

To my future children,

I just wanted to say,

Please come and bother me,

Whether I’m working overtime,

Or just too tired to function,

 I’ll always be there for you,

 To my future children,

                        Hopefully you’ll mostly take after whoever your mom is going to be,

                        Cause quite frankly,

                        I'm not about to deal with another me for the rest of my life,

                        To my future children,

                        Please believe me when I say,

                        Not counting the Lego battleship I built in the second grade,

                       Creating you will always be my greatest achievement,

                        And whatever happens,
                        I’ll always be your Dad.         

Sex

Yes, that is the actual title/subject of this blog post. For me, sex has always been more than just, well, sex. It's about connection and the feeling of being wanted by another. I just think that nothing compares to feeling like you actually matter. I mean, they chose you out of everyone else. I just really think that in itself says something. Now, don't be alarmed. I'm not going to be making any funny references to my sex life through out this whole thing because, quite honestly I feel like I'm already pushing the limit in writing an entire poem about sex in the first place. I just hope Doc Brown isn't going to hate me for this.

The reason why I wrote about this subject in the first place is that I really wanted to spice it up a little bit. Lately, my blogs have been a bit depressing and I just wanted to try something new. For hours I thought about how in the heck I was going to achieve such a turnaround from what I usually write. Then something happened to pop into my mind. I thought to myself "What if I write about something that will grab every ones' immediate attention? That's it! I'll write about sex and why I feel it's more than just two people doing the dirty." 

After finally choosing a topic, I then decided to basically name the three categories of sex just for the fun of it. First off, you have your basic one night stand in a shitty motel room kind of sex. Then there's the four a.m. please come over, we need to talk kind of sex. Lastly there's the I don't really like you but you'll do kind of sex. Personally, I think the last one kind of made my night.

As far as writing the poem, it was actually really hard. I felt as if I had to keep it PG-13 and that's actually rather difficult when talking about sex if you know what I mean. After hours of starring blankly at the computer screen, I scrolled through the music on my I-Phone and proceeded to play Marvin Gaye on repeat. After that, the poem basically wrote itself. This is probably my favorite poem that I've written so far. Mostly because, it's so different from what I usually write and also partly because, I enjoy pushing the envelope when it comes to talking about topics such as sex. Ah, the time has finally come. I hope you enjoy the poem as much as I did writing it. 

                 “Sex”

There’s something about those three letters,

When put together they express only one thing,

Sex,

It’s something we all crave,

Something we all need,

Something we all strive towards one day achieving,

Sex embodies the very things we crave most,

Love,

Affection,

Satisfaction,

I think nothing compares,

Nothing compares to the feeling of being wanted by another,

It’s as if time stands still,

And then everything comes full circle,

Sex is more than just a word,

It’s the epitome of connection,

It's the building block for relationships,

It’s the one moment when nothing else matters,

It’s the end of feeling inadequate,

It’s the beginning to feeling really -- alive.

Alone

All my life, I've never really felt as if I've ever truly belonged. I've always felt as if I was the odd man out when it came to most things. I was always picked last when it came to playing sports. I always had a real tough time making a tight nit group of friends. Honestly though, I was really just the guy people walked all over. You could say that growing up, my life was rather difficult. To this day, I still struggle from some of the issues that my childhood planted inside of me. Over the years, it seems as though I've gotten a little bit of a better handle in dealing with my past. Every once in a while though, my mood switches and I just shut down emotionally for a little while. It feels as if you're constantly gasping for air while simultaneously waiting for someone to come and rescue you. The only plot twist is that not a soul is even aware that you're struggling. That is the type of effect in which depression and loneliness can truly inspire.

To solve a problem, you must first realize that there is one. For a long time, I didn't think twice about how I felt. I just thought it was normal to feel like complete shit in my teenage years. Although most teenagers do tend to suffer from some sort of depression, I felt as if I could never be that guy. I came to realize that I could not have been more wrong. Now that I'm older, I realize that depression is no joke and it can stem from some of the smallest of things such as, being picked last repeatedly for years on end in dodge ball. I mean, I was a really good dodge ball player dammit. For real though, I was as swift as White Goodman and yes that was a Dodge Ball reference. 

All joking aside, I should be held as a prime example that there truly is hope for all of us. I was gone for a long time. I never thought I would ever escape that never ending hell of an existence. Day in and day out I progressively felt worse. Then one day, I just woke up. The storm had cleared and I could finally feel the sun on my face. I guess that really just exemplifies the idea that one day, you wake up and you just change. We all change. Whatever place I was in my head all those years ago is intertwined along in this poem. I hope you all can appreciate that. 

                                              “Alone”

My inner demons,

Have taken control,

They've changed me,

In more ways than one,

I stand alone,

Waiting for a reason to care,

Wondering what might have been,

It feels as though I’m slipping away,

Away from reality,

Up to this point,

Life has been an uphill battle,

It seems as though,

I never had a real say,

In what happened,

Or how it happened,

I've never felt so alone,

I’m scared of the future,

I can’t let go of the past,

The present always seem so bland,

How could I let it get to this,

I’m a mess,

I’m broken,

I’m alone.

The Walk

For those of you who are unaware, I've always been a huge MMA fan. There's just something about pitting two people against one another, in a steel cage, and having them slug it out for an extended period of time. I also like the fact that it's a single man sport. Basically, what I'm trying to say here is, there's pretty much no excuse for losing. If you lose, that's on you and only you. In other sports such as football or baseball, you have a whole team to blame. A couple people can screw something up for the whole team and in turn, that makes all of them look bad. However, in MMA, the pressure is all on you. It's a single man sport and that's just something that has always fascinated me.

There's honestly nothing better than inviting a couple of friends over into your man cave, watching some fights and sipping on some age appropriate drinks. I myself, usually just watch the fights by myself because I'm kind of a loser and have negative two friends but it's still a good time, I swear. This past weekend I decided to try and enter the mind of a fighter. I tried to think how they thought about things. Most notably their opening walkout into the arena on fight night. It's almost as if you're a modern day gladiator, entering the Colosseum and walking into battle. In my humble opinion, there's nothing more exciting to watch.

Like I said, I wrote this poem based off of what a fighter was most likely thinking about during his/her walk to the cage. It wasn't nearly as difficult as I thought it would be either. It's mainly due to the fact that I'm probably such a huge fan and I literally have seen at least a thousand fighter walkouts in my day. At last, the time has come. Sit back, relax and prepare to be mind screwed... Yes, I know what you're all thinking but I can't say the other word. However, I will say it rhymes with ducked. Here's this weeks poem, enjoy.

   “The Walk”

It's your time,

Your time to shine,

All of the nerves,

All of the tears,

All of the hard work,

It all comes down to this,

Seize the moment,

It's your time,

Your time to shine,

So you'll make that walk,

Knowing there's two roads ahead,

The road to failure,

The road to success,

You've got to make that choice,

You can choose to fail,

Or you can choose to succeed,

It all comes down to this,

So you'll make that walk,

Not knowing what will happen,

But you'll give it your all every time,

That's what it's all about.