If you follow my blog you might know that I just took part in my second Open Mic Night organised by Allie and Tina at Word on the Street. It’s a pretty chill affair where people get to showcase their poetry, stories and music in a bar slash cinema, The City Lights Bar, down a small side street in Valletta. Come and join us! It’s every Thursday from 8:30PM.
As usual, when I sign up for this sort of gig, I quickly realise that I need to have something prepared and my rhyming mind is blank. Thankfully not for l;ong though. Here are a couple of the poems/lyrics/raps… Whatever you want to call them that I performed.
The first one “I have to write” was penned pretty fast as I sat there realising as the title says “I have to write!” It’s funny how inspiration can come in a flash like that. The only thing you should notice is that I made sure every bar ended in a -ite. There are more ‘ite words out there but I figured too many would get messy.
The second is called “Opening Lines” and is a quick commentary on the importance I put on words and how important it is top actually communicate using your voice instead of just reading and responding via type like so many of us do nowadays. I have numerous chats set up with friends and groups of people but so often these app-based conversations feel shallow and one-sided. 250 or so emoticons just can’t convey hearing a person actually laugh, cry or sigh. My mother used to call her family every weekend to chat and catch up. She was so keen with it that as a teenager and 20-something I just took it for granted and gave the typical grunt and groan trying to speed up and cut short the conversation so I could go back to skating or chilling with my mates. Today, as a father and son who lives far from family and friends, I totally understand the importance of opening these lines of communication and using them on the regular.
If any of this writing inspires you, get in touch thecreativerighter@gmail.com
I have to write
I have to write
They said come tonight
It’s open mic night
I’m down, alright!
Now, what should I write?
Something funny? Something light?
Something witty? Something bright?
Definitely not something shite!
Do people like what I write?
I think that they might
That doesn’t mean that I’m right
I guess I’m feeling lucky like that one website
It’s hard to write
The page is still white
When it comes to stage fright
You just have to grab the bullet and bite
Despite what I might
Feel tonight
In front of this mic
I have to write
Opening lines
Heavily inspired by the desire to write rhymes
It’s fun to intertwine words along these lines
The only problem that I have from time to time
Is getting the syllables to fall exactly where I’d like – them to
Truth be told the knowledge you behold
Is worth more than its weight in gold
Sometimes it can’t just be bought and sold
My forefathers stood here reading from scrolls
Now I’m scrolling on this phone like whoa
You see technology is meant to be
Even though sometimes I think it’s our enemy
I asked my dad because he’s older than me
What it used to be like before colour TV
He said Son, don’t fight progress
Alright so I’ll embrace the change
But there’s still something that has got me feeling strange
Like that one thing on the horizon out of range
Looking blurred looking grey
It’s this – people don’t talk no more
Let me explain what I’m trying to say
We spend all day looking at our displays
Feeling like we’re included when in fact we’re all strays
A lot of the time it’s gets in the way
Of making meaningful connections
Careful, I don’t mean walk up to a stranger in the street
And strike up a conversation because they’ll think you’re a freak
Most people like to judge a person before they meet
What I mean is actually speak to family
Friends, sisters, brothers or loved ones
These are people who knew you before internet
These people are your real world wide web
A network made of love, laughter and respect
The people who you spend time with is time well spent
You get what I’m saying?
I’ve made it a point to take the time
To pick up the phone and open the line
And tell my family and friends I’m fine
I know those who matter to me don’t mind
Because those who mind don’t matter to me
