Lauren, Nicki and I went to open mic night tonight at Majestic on King street. Our friends Ryan and Gage were playing. They played two songs that they wrote together, and a girl they knew sang with one of them. They're all very talented. I knew before tonight that Ryan played guitar, but I had no idea how serious he had become about it.

Gage impresses me, as a person and a musician. He's that rare type of person who makes anyone who talks to him feel good. He actually listens to people and cares about what they're saying. It seems so simple, but I don't think that many people do that in everyday conversation. I know I don't; but being friends with someone like Gage makes me more conscious of it. It was his 21st birthday today too. Happy birthday Gage!

The girl who organizes the open mic night read a few poems, and this was one of them.


Serenade
Mariahadessa Ekere Tallie

You pour red-wine kisses
into my palms
brush copper stardust across my shoulders
You are a man in the
deep, forgotten sense of the word
opening yourself to the doctrine of surrender
releasing the need to create laws
or force the lotus open for yourself

You meditate
on rose petals
listen to clouds
shift in the sky
Man in the deep
forgotten sense of the word
whose walk is a prayer to movement
whose voice pays homage to sound
roots to soil
your hand in mine
Our voices entangled
in whisper and sighs
Man whose aura emulates air
you are a wind chime
in the loud madness
in the face of what manhood is mistaken to be