Spoke 'n Heard

Rarely do I remember the poetry at open mics but two in particular, last night at Java Monkey, stood out for me. The first guy, began with a disclaimer that he isn't a drug user nor condone its use then spit a piece aptly titled 'addiction' so blazing, it got praise well after he sat down. In the poem, he spoke of the madness when genius and art collides, how they go hand in hand with, it seems, some of the greatest minds who died (or live, in the case of Amy Winehouse) at the fate of drugs and/or the abuse of them...from jimi to elvis to janis to curt cobain to edgar to the more recent, keith ledger. I can't remember all the names but it got me thinking. Sometimes creative genius drives artists down dark tunnels that find them face to face with demons they can't outrun and somehow artisitic expression provides that outlet yet still not it's enough to shake them, so drugs become the chosen route of escape. When I think of this, the greatest parts of art and music history (basquit comes to mind), this troubling trend seems true. "Ya' never seem to survive, unless ya' go a little crazy" by Seal fits. The other poem was real cool because the guy's I guess a songwriter/singer so he imagines what it would be like to front a band with all the great religionist philosophers...god, gandhi, mohammed, jesus, buddha, krishna with each all playing different instruments in a jam session in modern-day set-it-off. Oh, it was masterful and brilliant they way he brought each personality to life. Amazing, to say the least. And very entertaining. I felt lifted.