By Button poetry
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Brandon Melendez, performing at the New Hampshire Institute of Art.
Transcript provided by YouTube:
00:02
alright voxpop so if you know me then
00:08
you know tequila hard stop
00:12
you know that sweet agave nectar is just
00:15
my ancestors coming back to life dancing
00:18
– mariachi on my tongue if you know me
00:20
you know all I want in this world is
00:25
friendship and tequila and if you ever
00:30
need a shot I’m your guy your tinder
00:31
date bails on you I got you
00:33
tinder date turns out to be your ex’s
00:35
twin I got you tinder date turns out to
00:39
be your ex and their twin in a
00:41
trenchcoat
00:42
first of all holy second of all I
00:46
got you this is how I love people best
00:49
Spring Break 2012 right the house has
00:52
the biggest party of the year right and
00:54
my friend Malik he comes up to me and
00:55
he’s like he’s like man I’m having the
00:57
worst week I just need to get
01:00
out of my head and I’m like I got you I
01:04
pull out the bottle of tequila from my
01:06
back pocket then we go to work
01:08
shot after shot until we are both on the
01:10
dance floor dancing like we’re trying to
01:12
exit our bodies like all the skin and
01:15
blood and gravity are holding us back
01:17
and lose sight of him you know but in
01:19
the fog of shaking bodies but I think he
01:22
wanted that to be swallowed by the heat
01:25
of other people’s breath he vanished
01:28
into the loudest noise he could find and
01:31
I figured you know it’s all good
01:33
I catch up to him eventually and I hate
01:40
that you already know what comes next
01:43
I hate that I don’t have to tell you for
01:48
you to know Malik doesn’t make it out of
01:51
this story alive he drinks himself into
01:55
a coma and he never wakes up and yeah I
01:57
still wonder if he’d be alive had I not
02:01
lost sight of him and he’d been a better
02:03
friend the kind who offers a lifeboat
02:06
instead of offering to drown beside him
02:08
I hate I hate that I’m even talking
02:10
about myself right now I’m making my
02:13
friend
02:14
courting character in his own exit but
02:17
grief says that this is my story to tell
02:20
grief says that whatever I have to give
02:22
is enough but grief it’s the facts wrong
02:25
grief gives my friend bottles instead of
02:28
a hands grief is grief is grief is grief
02:31
it’s I’m sorry I’m sorry there’s no
02:39
proper way to watch someone you love
02:42
dance right out of their body but if you
02:46
know me you know tequila is how I cope
02:50
with everyone I’ve lost how I make my
02:53
ancestors dance back to life in my
02:56
throat and yes friends become ancestors
03:00
too yes it still burns every time I take
03:03
a shot it still burns every time I think
03:06
of him but maybe that’s just what
03:08
happens when you refuse to let the
03:11
people you love stay dead
03:17
[Applause]
03:21
[Music]
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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Photo credit: Screenshot from video
