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I Am Tom

I am Tom, Tom I am
please listen to my poetry slam
I'll only plead, I will not damn
Just rap to the beat of my vegan jam

I must confess this time of year
I gobble out a fervent cheer
so that my kind won't disappear
each wishbone then, a souvenir

Please do not eat a turkey feast
recall it was a living beast
who once had eyes and feathered feet
that scratched the earth for food to eat

Don't use my brother as a course
set on the table without remorse
for hacking off his little head
leaving him gyrate 'til he's dead

I am Tom, Tom I am
I'm finished with my poetry slam

So now I'll stop, the mic will drop
I'll end this vegan be-'n-bop

And though you think me crazed and quirky
I pray you love veggies, and you're sick of turkey
***

Style / type: 
Structured: Western
Review Request (Intensity): 
I want the raw truth, feel free to knock me on my back
Last few words: 
Just a little different point of view
Editing stage: 
Content level: 
Not Explicit Content

Comments

Vegetarian, dreadlocks, Phish tour, and then kids…car seats, diapers, chicken nuggets. I am again a carnivore.

Such a good job, but you’re always on point so it’s becoming a little redundant to say so. This is flattery.

Tim

Thank you for reading. A little different take about the Thanksgiving dinner table.
So...you toured with Phish?!
L

author comment

Lol. I’m a lot kid. I got hooked when my folks took me to see the Grateful Dead in fall 1994. Jerry Garcia died the following year so Phish was the other big party band. I’ve seen them approximately 65 times in 10 states. Furthest I’ve traveled was Washington state to see them at The Gorge for three nights. They are a New England based band so they play a lot of runs of shows up here. It’s easy to catch them 3-4 times in a few weeks without much traveling. Boston and Hartford are an hour from me. Worcester is 30 minutes. Providence is 10. Albany is only 3 hours as is Portland Maine.

My wife is also a “phan” so we go to shows together and we also go to shows separately. I like seeing Phish alone without the distraction of my group. I like the people for the most part. I’m sober now so the drinking doesn’t distract anymore either.

Used to keep lavender and tea tree oils handy to protect my dreadlocks from stowaways. Don’t share joints with people you don’t know. Gold bond powder is a godly substance, treat others with compassion, be outgoing…I mean I really learned a lot of important stuff in that parking lot. It’s an amazing study in free market economics. Buy an ounce turn that into 8 bags and double your money. Selling beer was a sure thing. It’s a free life but it’s exhausting. Now I stay in hotels not Volkswagens.

You have had a large life, much of which sounds pretty wonderful. Due to raising my children, music stayed on the back burner from the late 70s until late 90s. I am doing a massive "catch up" now. Somehow, though, my daughter listened to The Grateful Dead, and now follows Dead & Company. My granddaughter follows Phish. Not nearly as much as you, though. You are an extraordinary writer with a whole lotta good stuff to say. Thanks for all you share.
L
(P.S. Maybe go vegan 1 day per month.) :)

author comment

I like beans. Lol. Wife and I also go to Dead and Company. She toured around with Phish and The Dead (Warren Haynes filling in) a lot before we dated. It sounds like I’m the same age as some of your children. I technically started seeing The Grateful Dead in 1978 in my mom’s uterus and my daughter did two runs of Phish shows as a stow away in my wife’s. 5 shows in early summer of 2009 we saw them from Boston down to Knoxville. Then we did three shows in the fall when she was very pregnant. Albany, Worcester, and Portland Maine.

If it’s not too much ask them to check out Rosewood Apothecary on YouTube or Spotify or Apple Music. I’m everywhere actually. It’s very in line with Grateful Dead and Phish but totally original of course. I’ll be your best friend.

Tim

Followed the Dead until Jerry died. I will check you out on YouTube for sure. Music is a huge part of my life. I have followed Steppenwolf since my dad gave me his old tape when I was three. I have met and hung out with the band and other members of the fan base. I feel most at home when I'm at a concert or hanging with a band.

~RoseBlack~

I heard Jerry say once that he thought one of the big draws and one of the reasons people followed them around was because they offered a sense of adventure and freedom that you really couldn’t get anywhere anymore in this “lame new America”. Kind of like “On the Road” except you can’t travel by rail car anymore. You can put four people and modest belongings in a jalopy and drive across the country seeing your favorite band tho and the parking lots were carnivals. And those lyrics; that’s the selling point for me. The stories are so classic yet retold in their own mythology and ethos. So many characters. Even the name “Grateful Dead” is serendipitous as hell. They were “The Warlocks” but so was Lou Reed at the time and I think ZZ Top was also. So they’re sitting around with this old Oxford Dictionary and Jerry opens the thing and right there on the page is “Grateful Dead n. A number of folk tales in which a stranger helps a dying person and then the ghost of that person leads them to some good fortune in repayment.”

I often come across haters and such and the only thing I can say is I get it, they’re not for everyone, but for the people who get it, it fills a vital need that is a little different for every person. Just like they never played the same set list ever for 2500 concerts. It was very much a shared experience between them and the audience any given night and some nights were stale and some were fire and you could never guess which was which so you just went to them all. Lol. I love them so much and my poetry is absolutely influenced by every word they ever sang. It’s kinda like my gospel.

to feel the enthusiasm in what you've written here. I can definitely see it in your poetry!

author comment

Is my passion, as was writing. I have recently gotten back into writing after a break. I've seen Steppenwolf numerous times and could listen to John Kay tell the same stories over and over again. It is great to be amongst folks that feel the same.

~RoseBlack~

and pass word along, too! Wonderful!
(My daughter was born in '78, also.)

author comment

This was fantastic! The humor, the rhyme...I loved everything about it. Reminded me a bit of Green Eggs and Ham!

~RoseBlack~

I'm glad you enjoyed this! Thank you for reading!
L

author comment

My Phish hangovers ran into so many thanksgiving mornings…and afternoons. My family never gave me much grief over it. Albany to Rhode Island at 8 am to make dinner at 1pm. Except you leave Albany at 9:40 because your traveling companions are sluggish. Lol

trio communication but be aware I'm silly not knowing anything FISHY

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