Battle Cry -- Poem

back in the days before evil was born
i used to spend my carefree afternoons
roaming the vast garden of earth

but all that changed once the serpent gave birth
to the first acts of definace, and blame

and the people looked down and were ashamed

my restive days and sleepless nights are now and forever filled
by the search for new recruits

wanted:
open minded able bodied freedom fighters

degree in phraseology recommended but not required

slave to the tired and the huddled masses
i enroll millions in mediation classes
and inquire of friends and countrymen alike
to kindly lend me an ear

and i can teach possibilities of joy filled years
turning mortal fear into immortal cheer with just
the flash of my smile

like inspiration to the bastard child i create potential
by spreading visions of a virtuous tomorrow
across disenchanted miles

i helped solomon build an empire
founded on courage and fortified by wisdom
yet pleasures and riches soon led him astray

and still today i seek out articulate potentials
literary mercenaries who can spread my message
to the ends of the planet and back

it was me first who stacked the mortal and marble
founding the academy at athens greece
ensuring that my voice would forever speak peace

when planted in deep and fertile soil
my thoughts bear rich and luscious fruit

and my juices be floatin’ down like rain
soakin’ into the nappy brains of my people

i am the eternal flame
driving the weary runner on thru the night
when place with might i grasp him tight
tugging him onward and upward
to carry my torch to distant lands

he spreads my fire to every man

where others have fallen he will stand cause in his mind
i be whisperin
i think i can
i think i can
i think i am mighty
therefore
i am

born of nothing but men’s minds they cultivate and grow me
and yet i enslave mankind when they fear or don’t know me

a pack of chained cave dwellers flock to breed and mate
these, self proclaimed enemies of the enlightened state
populate the legions of my mortal enemies

ignorance
envy
and hate

their undying ability to procreate leads me quickly to make battle
and at the speed that thought travels
i unravel the dreams that plague sleeping poets

they are the drivers of passion pumping stallions
herded into reality’s stables

i morphed into metaphor once and they called me aesop’s fables

and like a turn table spinning around
my cipher never ceases
as long as sound can shatter
the blissful state of ignorance
into pieces

my master thesis on the power of music
molds masters our of average earthlings
for i am the reason why the caged bird sings

from dusk to the rise of the sun re-born
i am he that brings memories of hope’s last dawn

yet still the spawn of pride fight hard and long

so silently i lick the wounds
inflicted upon the many wombs
of my wife
man’s written verse

she lost her fighting stance while slamming in a serpent land
in the battle of general bigot’s last stand
poetry was severed from the hearts of man
yet just when the art of rhyming threatened to cease and be no more
this new thing called hip-hop armed me with rhymes galore

so i be aimin’ my darts at the hearts of youth
with semi-automatic riffles loaded with truth
but don’t shoot until you see the whites of their lies
and don’t fire if you can feel the self loathing in their eyes

the day that i lack compassion
is the fateful day that my mission dies

i am
the wounded warrior

jaded
yet ever crawling towards peace
and ever searching for restless writers
to set my soul at ease

won’t you fight for me

There Is No 'Try'

     Another year, another round of pilot season. I encourage actors to pick up the pace starting around the holidays, and its never stressed enough: you don't need an agent to pick up gigs.

     These days, with the advent of the social media, and all the multiple platforms, there is no "waiting for the phone to ring" involved anymore. An actor has as many opportunities as they can create for themselves. I say this to be much more than a quick tagline or bumper sticker. (Although I would put that on the back of my car.) These days the online database is king. You have to be choosy, and you have to find the ones that work best for you. Asking around is never a bad thing, but know that everyone's experiences will be different. Either way, its a mentality of always submitting, always searching for new social media groups, or industry networking events. Finding new ways of conjuring up projects is half the fun. And even if its not, you have to keep telling yourself that. Its the only way.

     I recently did a comedy pilot that I submitted to from NYCastings.com ( I highly recommend them for east coast actors, I'm not sure if there is a company quite like theirs for LA.) and by the time the casting director called me up all randomly at like 7:30 at night, I couldn't even remember what the show was. The lady wanted me to tell her a funny story on the spot, and while I can't say I brought the house down, I did book the part. It was interesting to me, I'd never had to do that before. I told a story about traveling to Connecticut for a theatre run, and how it was interesting to me. Eventually she laughed. I don't know, I don't think there were any real punch-lines per se, but it was an interesting story. And sure, she laughed....eventually.

     I say this just to point out that it is sort of an on-call occupation. Its not just that "an actor prepares", an actor must STAY prepared. You never know what lies just around the corner. And I think a lot people miss out on opportunities because they won't think outside the box.

     I have to admit, I hate the phrase when people say "oh, you're trying to be an actor." Thats not the way it works. You're either an actor or you're not, and the choice is yours to make. There is no pie in the sky day of "now you have made it" that appears one day just because you've booked a series or something. Sure, there are different levels of financial solvency that one can reach in the entertainment industry, but that's not necessarily what  I would call having made it. There are a ton of actors out there with more than comfortable bank accounts that I would not like to be. The whole concept these days is to create your own career path. No one waits for some agent to do it for them. Those days are long past.

     I'm proud to be on the "D List". I'm a horror movie actor. And I've chosen this path. My newest show I'll be appearing in this year is a vampire series called Night Life. I got to do the voiceover for the trailer and everything, its been really fun so far.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=58zqnyPzw7s
   
     All that is just to say, keep your head up and keep it moving. Don't ever let someone tell you an actor has to be in LA to take advantage of pilot season, or that you have to be with some big agency to get work. Its simply not the case. The name of the game is A.B.G. Always Be Grinding. Now get back to work, coffee's for closers!

Sit Back and Enjoy the Show

Exciting people live for exciting times. The trick is in the in-between. No one can be "on" all the time. 

I've been fortunate enough to be asked back to the Sherman Playhouse theatre in Connecticut to do another theatre run for them, and rehearsals have just begun. I say this every time I have an extended interim between stage plays; there's no rush out there that can hold a candle to live theatre. Actors need to act. Its like clean air, and fresh water. The body simply does not work without it. Classes are fun, and can be a tool for getting in front of agents and casting directors. But there is no class or workshop that can replicate the feeling of a live show. 

I'm fortunate. This fall I get to commute to the plush countryside of New Milford, CT, and get exposed to a whole other market of theatre goers outside of NYC. Believe it or not, many (I'd say just short of most) New York actors would snub their noses at doing a show like this. I say why? Even Malkovich does random experimental theatre, and its alway phenomenal. This day and age, Anything off-broadway is technically community theatre. We live in a digital world now. If its not on tv, to most people, it doesn't exist. I say, good. Let the pop cultured masses have their fill. There are more than enough people that still love an electrically charged evening of comedy and drama. You just have to have the guts to stand up. 

As a matter of fact, next to stand up comedians, theatre actors are the realest it gets. 

Stand up and take your bow. And if the crowd sucks that night, screw 'em, another full house will be here tomorrow. 

Its the communal experience that they come for. And its the electric funky soulful acting that keeps 'em coming back. Film and television will never replace that. 

This year we lost a handful of some of the most prolific actors of our time. Robin Williams passing has been a wake up call to perfumers, and non performers alike. Every one has their own demons to battle, and you never know what the person you are idolizing on TV is really going through. Actors across the board, but especially comedians are constantly forced to be "on" all the time. Thats like meeting your favorite basketball player and expecting him to go dunk a double clutch jam for you right quick, so you can get a picture for instagram. How ridiculous would that be? But thats what happens every day in the world of entertainment. 

Just think about that next time you bother a celebrity at a ball game. Or photo bomb a selfie with some rapper at a club. 

They're the celebrity. You're the customer. Just relax, sit back, and enjoy the show. 

Zen and Poetry

out of any two thoughts i have 

one is devoted to poetry

but i have yet to learn the importance of a line

no conquer pen 

as would mountain

when climb 

is not mountain also legs

when write 

ink and paper control poem

as much as hand

i want to write another book but i can’t

i can only write poems

and now it seems even those are falling short

of my relentless search for truth

stop searching

but all i can do is write

then write

discipline in spontaneity 

and spontaneity in discipline

its like a gentle swaying

an almost ocean like rocking 

against the rhythmic crescents of my disjointed thoughts

joined only by the common constant desire to create

no focus

no control

no patience

no trust

do not try to finish poem

hopeless

only try to realize truth

then u see is not poem that is crafted

but only yrslf

creation is the bridge between me and Allah

Zen say stand by yr thoughts as u would a wide river

proverbs say diligent hand will rule

Kant say greatest value in world to man

freedom of choice

so if i widen the bridge between 

my valuable thoughts 

and my diligent hands

what greater world am i free to create

what greater man can u choose to become

i take my tea the way i take my poetry

first thing in the morning

with two bags of earl grey 

that have been soaking since last night

sipped with meticulous patience

its almost strong enough 

if you don’t do the things u love 

you will easily forget the joy u found in them

takes plenty faith to put down sail

and float to current

that current shall set u free

but taste of freedom is bittersweet

of this i know too well

i’m searching for that raw uncooked truth

so elemental that it has no composition

only decomposed atoms to its fibers

patience

let the poems right themselves

drugs are a natural thing to mistake it for

but i’ve tasted what’s real

no impulse

no thought

no patience 

no truth

him that i felt could do for me is trapped inside

somebody that’s slowly killing me

and i didn’t even know he was there until now

abuses my use of time

puts poison into my body

he is choking the life from me as we very speak

this person must die a violent and horrible death

no, u must let him slip from the outstretched grasp

of your scarred and hang nailed fingers

slowly and quietly

and stealthily retreat into the night

no open mind 

no open eye

no passion 

no peace

in order to become a creator i must first create myself

Cosmological Shadowboxin'

poems like these ain’t real

'less they shine like a chromed out platinum wheel

sun roof open when i roll in my car

so i can drive and look at the exploding stars

white dwarf or red giant it ain’t burnin’ me

because my comfort zone is wider than eternity

in the club brothers givin’ me pounds

but they don’t understand the agenda is Now

progression is steady like the dreads be lockin’

and i’m cosmologically shadowboxin’

i speak softer than the rain

and as long as i’m a poet imma train

to just listen

to the wisdom of the trees

sweet rustling of leaves

my mental jet skis ride waves of reality

hoppin’ on foam, playin’ with gravity

but i hold on to the muse when i got her

same moon reflected in every pool of water

i bounce a shine off the liquid for fun

i’m quick as a gun

but i am no sun

the twinkle in your ear caught the way my words gleam

cleaning the mirror every day for a high beam

of is it an illusion

cause god is a verb and its deeper than institution

live for the infinite, forget all else

but maybe i’m gettin’ too ahead of myself

first grow wings for arms

or become a wide river mighty and strong

or just quiet down all thought

the cosmos has a rhythm and that beat don’t stop

so how you gonna tell me if a tree hits the ground

that it don’t make a sound

never mattered

if no one hears

its breakin’ up the solitude

and chasin’ the fears

because silence is a weapon

and the sound must rise to the heavens

diggin’ deeper roots for the fruits i grow

and there is an edge, this must i know

but i’m done chasin’ yesterday with scorn

cause now i see that emptiness is form

and every form is empty

livin’ in my nappy now

till i always see everything

collectin’ on taxes is wastin’ my time

i’m hoppin’ synapses of universal mind

stackin’ up ladders cause my rise ain’t stoppin’

till the day i’m erased into shadows

and forgotten


cosmological shadowboxin'

Man In Black

well you wonder why i always dress in black

why 'ya never see bright colors on my back

and why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone

well there's a reason for the things that i have owned

i wear the black for the poor and beaten down

livin in the hopeless hungry side of town

i wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime

but there's cause he's a victim of the times...

but just so we're reminded of the ones who were held back

up front, there ought to be a man in black

well there's things that never will be right i know

and things that need changing every where you go

but till we start to make a move to make a few things right

you'll never see me wear a suit of white

oh i'd love to wear a rainbow every day

and tell the world that everything's okay

but i'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back

till things are brighter, i'm the man in black

--Johnny Cash

Harlem Sunset Poem

every autumn evening

just around dinner time

nestled in the neighborhood

where a nickel costs a dime

the setting november sun

trades places with the downtown skyline

there’s nothing like harlem sunset in late november

an incandescent changing of the color guard

that never fails to line these sugar coated hills

with shadow as well as light

its flavor is rich and sweet

like a whooping plate full of

sylvia’s crispy chicken and waffles

or the freshly brewed iced tea

that washes it down

these lazily stretching rays reflected on my window pane

reflect the blend of colors in harlem

reflect the blend of colors in me

there’s nothing like a harlem sunset in late november

a block of maroon rooftops

softly kiss a copper toned cloud

its color is rich and deep

like otis redding spinning a heartfelt line

that seeps into your very pores

and i never mind watching the twilight fade away

while sitting on the dock of any bay

wasting time

wasting time

there’s nothing like a harlem sunset in late november

like a slowly dying candle flame

the orange embers blend into

a pale blue palatte

crackling yellowed leaves

line a street so twisting and narrow

that even cab drivers have trouble navigating

where do all the leaves come from

in a neighborhood with such few trees

there’s nothing quite like a harlem sunset in late november