Carlos Andrés Gómez – Beating Traffic [Video]

By Button Poetry

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Shasparay, performing at WoWPS 2020 in Dallas, TX.

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Transcript provided by YouTube (unedited)

0:17
we knew those aisles were much more than
0:19
just concrete
0:20
they were sacred
0:22
a once-in-a-lifetime shot so we smuggled
0:25
ourselves into the floor seats
0:28
to watch michael jordan
0:30
play basketball
0:32
for the final two minutes and 37 seconds
0:36
of the only game he’d ever play on his
0:39
30th birthday thousands headed for the
0:42
exits
0:44
because the winners
0:45
had been decided
0:47
they believed
0:49
to get a jump start
0:52
on going home
0:54
i saw michael jordan
0:56
play basketball
0:58
from floor seats
1:00
in his prime
1:03
because some sears and roebuck regional
1:06
vice president had some phantom traffic
1:09
to evade
1:11
or maybe just never even showed up
1:16
in my blink of an eye on this earth
1:19
may i be struck down by lightning
1:22
before i ever rsvp
1:25
maybe
1:26
before i rate my birthday party a six
1:29
out of ten after i dance with my sister
1:32
before i walk out on otis singing or
1:35
basquiat painting to go beat traffic
1:38
miss out on a chance to live so i can
1:39
catch up on sleep when you’re in a
1:41
rocking chair
1:43
if you’re so blessed to make it that far
1:46
with your aching and failing joints your
1:48
arthritic and curling limbs the flailing
1:51
novel of your life rolling out from
1:52
behind you like a field of swollen
1:55
marigolds do you want your memories to
1:57
be neatly tucked into rubbermaid bins in
2:00
your garage
2:01
with nothing in them but records that
2:04
skip
2:05
an old photo albums
2:07
full of multiple copies of the same
2:10
polaroid
2:12
you
2:13
in your recliner
2:15
by yourself
2:17
watching another bad sitcom re-run in a
2:21
recent study of senior citizens it was
2:23
found that people rarely regretted most
2:26
of the things they had done
2:28
overwhelmingly it was the things they
2:31
had not done which filled their regret
2:33
lists when they reached old age this is
2:36
not a rehearsal but it sure as hell
2:38
might be a test is there anything left
2:41
beating in your chest i sometimes get
2:43
tired and notice sand sliding through my
2:46
hands when i want to rest i am done with
2:48
the days of yeah i’m definitely gonna
2:50
try my best
2:53
to make it
2:55
so much
2:56
of this life
2:58
is what you make of it it’s just about
3:00
arriving through that door but most of
3:03
us never even make it out of bed like
3:06
yoda said
3:08
do
3:09
or do not
3:11
there is no try
3:14
and there won’t be a second one forget
3:16
beating traffic leave your car in the
3:19
parking lot let the tears stain your
3:21
face as you run through the rain your
3:23
arms outstretched alive like the last
3:26
few gas before going under like a
3:29
supernova seen alive behind still
3:32
traveling light although
3:34
it is flickered out
3:36
we wonder
3:38
are you still there
3:40
aw and wonder
3:42
are you still
3:44
there
3:45
an echo after light like thunder
3:49
my god
3:51
we’re still here
3:56
we made it
3:58
[Music]
4:28
you

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This post was previously published on YouTube.

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