Brought To You Courtesy Of The Red, White And Blue

My red, white and blue poem
Will surely show it's time
That our good friend America
Got its first real freestyle rhyme

I'm not in the armed forces,
The navy or reserves
I don't go out and battle
For the liberties preserved

But I'll support our boys in blue
Until my dying day
I'll stand with my hand to my heart
When that grand anthem plays

Cuz, Liberty does not come free
I'll start down at the ground
And I'll work up to the top
'Til I hear sweet freedom's sound

I'll even work to let you have
Your differences and complaints
Against my country 'tis of thee
And I'll pose no harsh restraints

I'm a blue-jeans wearing kid
With no I.O.U. from Sam
If you don't agree, well,
Sorry, that's the way I am

Rhyme inspired by hearing the
Star Spangled Banner over and
over again as I watch the Olympics
And by Toby Keith
"Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue"

Couldn't Keep To Myself Enough

The subtitle of this blog is "If you can't talk about it, Freestyle." But it seems that we have come to an impass, because finally I have something I can talk about.

Timing.



Our lives are like a line of dominoes
Push one down and watch the others flow
The difference is, you don't really know
Where you'll end up or where you'll go

Not that I'm saying that we have no control over our lives and that all we can do is watch the pieces fall, but if you think about all the influences in your life that have come together to make you the person that you are, there is a lot of timing that goes into the process.

Then how is it now that I have to care
About where I step and for what I prepare?
Why is it that I'm living on a prayer
That somehow, someway I'll get somewhere?

You see, the misunderstanding is recalled
That I cannot change the place where I fall
But oh how foolish this assumption crawls
Back to its author so faithless and small

It is weakness to choose to believe that our lives have an outcome that we cannot change because it is led and defined by forces outside our control; to put God in a position that discounts your own choices. However, it is also weakness to choose to believe that you do not need a God and that you are the only one in control of the outcome of your life.

It is true that a domino needs some nudging
How hard and when is what we are judging
It's a fine line we are continually smudging
Of when it's our turn,& when it's God budging

The strength of faith comes in realizing that we don't hold all the pieces and we don't call all the shots. Though ultimately the decision to act lies in our capacity, it is strength to rely on God to know what it is that we must do with our agency, and even greater strength to do it.

Rhyme inspired by the realization that I do not live
in Provo to work, but rather to build relationships.

And by the Music Video by Relient K "Who I Am Hates Who I've Been"
(Video not chosen entirely for the message of the song, but rather for the video itself. If you would like, watch the video without the sound. It will deliver the same effect)

The Sophomore Slump Is An Uphill Battle

Every time I start a rhyme
I sit and stew, without a clue
Of what I want to say to you

It's a shame that I cannot blame
This writer's block of shock
On a gushy, brainy keyless lock

I look around and to the ground
From my bed, I scratch my head
The runes at my wits must be dead

"Think! Think!" I say and blink
"Gotta be a thought I've fought
That may just like to be caught"

It makes me grieve as I perceive
The reason for my adroit treason
The deficiency of verbal season

I embark to look through books
Frantic search of a brew so new
Only to find a mangled haiku

Up my hands must go, I bellow
Acuity must flux with this crux
Leaving all design to dim clucks

I quit

Rhyme inspired by nothing at all
And by Jason Mraz "Wordplay"