Verbatim

Fluent in sailor tongue And sand dollar skin He moved like ocean Just to catch my drift

She was all sunshine and curves.. He was looking for the scenic road home.

I got time To listen to you whine About this body of mine Why does she show it all the time? Calling something art doesn't make it fine For shame Body frame Disgraces her family name By never falling into line Unclothed skin Unclothes she who lies within Her know-how Could never prevent Anatomy from becoming A proclamation of sin What is this shell But porous flesh We cannot resist As the blood begins to swell That's why we use it to sell Our goods, Our time, Ourselves Pray tell The cost of living this kind of hell Universe created no creature more Disgusted by their natural form Openly abhor The human part of being Collective consciousnes Filtered through cracked screens Attempt to keep our chaos clean Haunted by the thought That we are better off unseen

A state of mind in which I catch myself more often than I'd like to admit... Hung up. Hung up on petty disappointments, ridiculous self-imposed expectations, and comparison to others' lifestyles, however completely unique from my own. I'm sure I'm not alone in this sentiment. It's hard to not feel the plight of such earthly matters like biological clocks and lifestyle envy when we exist within mere snapshots of this reality through several filters of pleasantries and aspired perfection. Being someone who has suffered from body dysmorphia throughout my entire adolescence and well into my young adulthood, I had thought I had grown out of this mental/emotional sickness with my days of eating disorders long behind me. How untrue this has proven to be. Even with topics like self-acceptance and body positivity on the forefront of my artistic pursuits, this past week has revealed what a grueling, continuous process deconditioning oneself from these combatants against

Touch Event Lineup 7:00-7:05     Intro/Welcome 7:05-7:10     Sacrificial Poet 7:10-8:00    OM Bowl 8:00-8:10     *break* 8:10-9:00    LYfoundation's Ecstatic Dance 9:00-9:10     *break* 9:10-10:10   Connections Concepts for Blues with Mark & Jeanne of Unit 246 10:10-10:30 Outro/Mingle/Cleanup Vendors Whose Thought Anyway Charismatic Ashley Dawn Piece By Reese

Dark recess, While I reflect On the opposite side Of moonlight, Tells me I don't deserve you And it is right You are Never meant to be Something to possess Your presence A blessing, Our lessons learned Lessen My lack of purpose For you, I continue For you, I grow For you Are me, Sun, And so much more. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This little boy is the love and Light of my life. He illuminates me even when I am mostly darkness. I do not exist to steal his shine, but to reflect this back to him in his own darkest hours. Growing through what we go through. I will never give up on myself because I will never give up on him. Last week was a hard one. Depression is weird like that. One could be living in a state of bounty as I feel I am now. Spiritually, creatively, communally fulfilled, living a life of both physical and divine purpose in the integrity of my beliefs. Still the darkness lingers.

We humans Are Slippery little things I slipped into D e p r e s s i o n You slipped Out of sight. -Rs.Darko

Sleeping angel I could see you from any angle With a mess of curls Entangled Around my fingers I start to drift and linger Half sleep demon Half teddy The sun's creeping up I'm not ready Consciousness Peaks behind two heavy lids Funny how our bodies seem To always perfectly fit Maybe just a little bit squished But I could stay here for hours Deep in our cuddle Christening you with my infamous drool puddle Nothing subtle about The way you've knocked me out With the comfort of your touch Warm bodies beckoning Like the pull of the sun Still I'm as stubborn as the moon As she stalls to leave No rush in stirring We stay flirting in between Rising and hiding In a veil of sleep

My love for you is a distraction from risking letting someone close enough to truly love me. I'm more afraid of taking a real chance, and being hurt, than I am of withstanding your lukewarm rejections time and time again. I'd rather feed into the complacency of your maybe, than stake it all on a forever.

V1 (rap) I'm cleaning out my closet Yeah, I'm cleaning out my fridge Y'all up in the freezer Pray for cryos or whip-its So you can stretch this life out While you slomo each second The foolish fumble time While the minutehand ticks I gave up on immortal Cause my finite's truly blessed If you talk less You'll feel the universe regress And expand within the confines Of the you who manifests I used to pray for freedom But it's beyond the politics *Hook* Digesting My dressing Both sour and sweet My third eye Is tasting Your flavor of the weak Tell me Oh tell me What fills in that space Between Two closed ears Behind that smile on your face V2 (sing) Oh I don't need a flow To tell you what I know Socratic Ecstatic Transcending what we own If I've been burning bridges It's because I need to fly Respect the resurrected We perceive through our mind That energy is cyclical Around and 'round it goes I feel happine

How do I answer the question "What's wrong?" First thought was to apologize For my faltered song And dance Entranced By the emptiness in my hands So much disappointment where I stand That I can barely stand Behind this smile Still they proclaim their demands Mistake my kindness For boundless, My positivity for soundless motives, and guile Fake recognize fake I guess, With masks worn like fleeting styles Just to cover up the scars and burns These struggles left behind Like dog-eared pages Haunting with promises of their return I'm trying to learn acceptance To grow with my pain With every turning page But the ink is too fresh I fear the smudge left at my fingertips Leaves every clean sheet tainted With my former self And my spine misshapen From every chapter I've ripped from it In hopes that I can forget And write myself a new ending All they see is a pretty cover Bright and smooth With a laminate protector Over my hard, leather bo

You call me "beautiful" Like an accusation Pointed fingers Lead to misdirection Thinking this is a competition When I couldn't care less For your opinion