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Rudy Francisco, performing a new version of “Complainers”
About Button:
Button Poetry is committed to developing a coherent and effective system of production, distribution, promotion and fundraising for spoken word and performance poetry.
We seek to showcase the power and diversity of voices in our community. By encouraging and broadcasting the best and brightest performance poets of today, we hope to broaden poetry’s audience, to expand its reach and develop a greater level of cultural appreciation for the art form.
Transcript provided by YouTube (unedited)
00:02
the following
00:03
are all true stories may 26 2003 erin
00:08
ralston was hiking
00:09
a boulder fell on his right hand he
00:11
waited four days
00:12
then he amputated his own arm with a
00:15
knife
00:16
on new year’s eve a woman was bungee
00:18
jumping in zimbabwe the cord broke
00:20
she then fell into a river and had to
00:22
swim back to land in crocodile-infested
00:24
waters
00:25
with a broken collarbone claire champlin
00:28
was smashed in the face by five pound
00:30
watermelon being propelled by a
00:31
slingshot matthew brobist
00:33
was hit by a javelin david striegel was
00:35
actually punched in the mouth by a
00:37
kangaroo
00:39
the most amazing part of these stories
00:42
is when asked
00:43
about the experience they all smiled
00:45
shrugged and said
00:47
i guess things could have been worse so
00:50
go ahead
00:51
tell me that you’re having a bad day
00:54
tell me about the traffic
00:56
tell me about your boss tell me about
00:58
the job you’ve been trying to quit for
00:59
the past four years tell me the morning
01:01
is the townhouse burning to the ground
01:03
tell me the snooze button is a fire
01:04
extinguisher tell me the alarm clock
01:06
stole the keys to your smile
01:07
drove it into 7 a.m and the crash
01:09
totaled your happiness tell me
01:11
tell me tell me how blessed are we to
01:14
have tragedy so small
01:15
it can fit on the tips of our tongues
01:17
you see when evan lost his legs he was
01:19
speechless
01:20
when my cousin was assaulted she didn’t
01:21
speak for 48 hours when my uncle was
01:24
murdered
01:24
we had to send out a search party to
01:26
find my father’s voice most people
01:28
have no idea that tragedy and silence
01:30
have the exact same address
01:32
so when your day is a museum of
01:34
disappointments hanging from events that
01:35
were outside of your control
01:36
when you find yourself flailing in an
01:38
ocean of why is this happening to me
01:39
when it feels like your guardian angel
01:40
put in his two week notice two months
01:42
ago and just decided not to tell you
01:43
when it feels like god is a babysitter
01:46
that’s always on the phone
01:47
where you get punched in the esophagus
01:48
by a fistful of life remember
01:50
that every year two million people die
01:52
of dehydration
01:53
so it doesn’t matter if the glass is
01:55
half full of half empty there’s water in
01:57
the cup
01:58
drink that and stop complaining you
02:00
see muscle
02:03
muscle is created by repeatedly lifting
02:05
things that have been designed to weigh
02:06
us down so when your shoulders feel
02:08
heavy
02:08
stand up straight lift your chin call it
02:11
exercise remember
02:12
that life is a gym membership with a
02:13
really complicated cancellation policy
02:16
remember
02:16
that you will survive remember things
02:18
could be worse remember
02:19
we are never ever given anything that we
02:22
can’t handle
02:23
when the world crumbles around you look
02:24
at the wreckage build a new one out of
02:26
all the pieces that are still here
02:28
remember that you are still here the
02:30
human heart beats approximately 4
02:32
000 times per hour and each post each
02:35
throb
02:36
each palpitation is a trophy engraved
02:38
with the words you are still alive
02:41
you are still alive
02:46
act like it
02:56
you
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This post was previously published on YouTube.
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