“Hungry like a bottom boy treated to Bonanza

still got stamina when it comes to a stanza

and stanzas ain’t supposed to stand still

ain’t supposed to be stagnant

rhymes like that collect dust in the attic

in the new day, my folks will bump poetry in traffic

will play us on clear channel, noon time and no static

will take our lines and quote us in their status

will print our lines on fabrics then wear our lines to classes

will debate about which poetry albums are classics

in the new day, this will be respected by the masses”

-Christopher K.P. Brown (New Day Chapbook)

 *Use What You’ve Got by Barbara Corcoran – Great book for entrepreneurs. She was one of the panelist on Shark Tank, which is a dope show for anyone looking to start a business. I really enjoyed the book and I’ve implemented a lot of her tips into how we operate as 2 Pens & Lint.

*Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell – Just a good book in general. You can actually listen to this joint for free I think on Grooveshark.com I know his other book, The Tipping Point, is on there.

As corny as it may sound I’m really addicted to poetry. I don’t mean I can’t live without it I mean I can’t stop once I’ve started. I performed last Thursday in DC. Did two new poems. It went well. Then I performed that Saturday in DC. Went well. I spent the whole week practicing working on new poems. Tonight I performed a new piece here in Philly. Good response. Now I want to perform again, like right now. That’s how it is for me. I’m usually just getting started when I come of stage. That’s why I enjoy features, i get to perform off of the energy I build up from performing. By that I mean, in general, i’m a pretty calm person. But performing gets me hype, like hyper,and I just have a lot of energy. This works in features because I can use that energy throughout my performance but at open mics when I’m only doing one or two pieces I just leave the mic with this left over energy and it’s like waiting to come down from a high. I’m still waiting. One of my first features was a 45 minute set and I did it comfortably. Some days I practice my poetry for 3 hours straight without noticing. At any given time I have 30 poems committed to memory. Often more. I really enjoy my poetry, possibly more than people who enjoy my poetry. LOL. Not to say i’m conceited or anything. I don’t necessarily think i’m the coolest person in the world but I think my poetry is dope. Not necessarily the dopest but it’s dope. And performing it is just something I can’t describe. I just know that I’m reaching for something every time I perform. It’s a type of high I’m reaching for. And sure it may get to a certain level everytime but when I step on stage i’m always trying to take it all the way there. The last time it really just got extremely crazy on stage for me was back in Little Rock in 2008. I was performing on a Saturday and my closest friends from high school were in the crowd. I completely lost it (in a good way) that night. The two friends that I started a poetry club with in high school were there as well and up to that point I was getting the most money I’d ever gotten from a show. I had a lot to prove, to my friends, and also to the people paying me. Plus I was at home performing for the first time since being an adult. I did a lot of pacing and praying before the show. The pacing stop after I prayed. There were many other acts and I ended up doing an hour long show. By the end, I’d actually knocked over these drums and a few chairs as well. I didn’t notice any of this until my best friend pointed it out  afterwards. My energy was all over the place but mind and my heart was focused on leaving it all on that stage. I did. I feel the stage is the only place to leave it. I hope that’s something people who see my show can always say about me because that’s where my passion is, that stage. Off stage I can be very calm and nonchalant. On stage i’m the opposite. That’s because I live for the stage and performing. If you want to truly see who I am then see me on stage. Any other time I’m just preparing to be on stage again. Okay, now that I have this out I’m starting to come down from my high. Thanks for reading. Come check out a show soon. Until then, new material coming next week. Monday! Peace.