Mike Rosen "When God Happens"
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 1 ต.ค. 2024
- "Mike Rosen, an NYC-based poet and educator, performs "When God Happens" his poem about 9/11 as part of NYC Urbana Poetry Slam. The Bowery Poetry Club, 5/12. For more on Mike you can follow him on Twitter (@mikerosenwrites) or check out his homepage about.me/mikerosen
I cry everytime I watch this.
"Your war has done nothing but add to the list of boys who are still waiting for their fathers to come home.."
As a muslim i just really want to thank you so much for writing this. It brought tears to my eyes. Things were turned upside down for the victims of 9/11. I have a friend who was in iraq when the invasion happened as well. War solves nothing. Hate solves nothing.
Being a Christian, I totally agree. I had tears in my eyes also. The whole world was stopped and time was no more.
Well God Bless and go on your way.
FablesFromSa3vis i dont think its anti God or religion. He's stating that our own beliefs do not matter when so many people have been affected. "When God happens no one is right" We are constantly arguing which side is right, our God in USA or their God in Iraq. I believe it's stating we are the ones who are putting too much of our own thoughts into the matter rather than focusing on the issue: war with each other.
I agree. Bush even once stated that he was doing this for the will of God. There's this whole idea of our God is better than yours. I don't think it was against religion though, just stupid violence in its name.
Get the heck out of here, your sick religion has never once apologized for killing us Americans for no reason. Instead you try to minimize the events of what happened. Good day to you sir.
Poem hit me like a train full of other trains.
damn dude
I swear this is like the 12th poetry video I've seen tonight, and each one is bigger and more powerful than the last...this one is right up there...
I haven't seen a better one than this.
Each slam poetry video I've watched tonight has killed some small part inside of me.
Jonny Vincent Omg. I agree. This was amazing.
I was all like, "We can handle this, right?" And my eyes said, "Nah, man. Tears."
i showed this to my classmates who joked about 9/11 and they cried. time is passing, people are forgetting the tragedy and emotions that the entire country felt, but i refuse to let the youth be ignorant. i love this.
+Tabetha Le 9/11 was an inside job
not forgetting, no one is forgetting. they are moving on. you don't constantly dwell on the death of a family member. you grieve but eventually you have to move on.
Tabetha Le yeah but you don't joke about it, that's insensitive
annie akhter Mark Twain once said that Humor is tragedy plus time.
@@protoman1521 Don't be stupid. There's plenty of evidence proving that only al-Qaeda, a terrorist group, did it. They also explained they did it because of US support for Israel and the murder of Palestinians, so ha!
Rare to see a poet who can actually make someone who hasn't experienced anything like this understand the gravity of the situation, and feel the pain that he felt. Well done
Moreover he didn't use rhymes. Gets it sounds so… idk what to call it!
Abdullah Al-Azmi spoken word
that's a really really nice thing to say. thank you for this comment!
I watch this poem every year on 9/11 so that I am reminded what that day actually meant. I am too young to remember more than individual snippets of that day, but I know in my heart of hearts that this poem signifies what that day meant to all New Yorkers and what it should have meant to all Americans.
I'm really glad the piece means this much to you, Colin. Thanks for writing!
Colin Churchill 8
i was 25yo and my brother died a month later. true story. that time period changed my life forever.
"your war has done nothing but add to the list of boys... the list of boys who are still waiting for their fathers to come home"i'm in tears T.T
"There was no black or white because under the ashes everyone was grey."
Thank you for the line of 'it's not our god or their god' Thank you for that Mike, be blessed
How that made me cry.
I was 4 and living in New York when 9/11 happened and it is my first clear memory. People don't understand why I have such a hard time talking about it or why I can't watch the videos we watch on 9/11 every year in school. I have PTSD from it and I was only 4. I didn't even fully grasp what was happening, all I knew was that planes knocked down big buildings and killed a lot of people and there was smoke everywhere for about three weeks. I cried every time I heard a plane go over my house for the next 8 years until I moved. I had nightmares that I plane was going to crash into my house, my grandmother's house, my brother's house, and kill everyone I had ever loved and cared about. People don't always realize just how traumatizing this event was for everyone in New York. Thank you so much for this. This made me cry, but in the best way possible.
Hope Moser
Dear sweet soul.. I hope that you are healing. I feel like you need s hug and I need to hug someone right now. Be well 💕
This poem is not about the validity of God (it actually takes a stance on how the actions of both parties had nothing to do with a true image of God). The poem is about a difference in views in reaction to the tragedy of 9/11. The very fact that people are getting caught up in how this relates/doesn't relate to God shows the great misunderstanding of this poem. The speaker is talking about carnage, fear, the loss of human life and mourning it, how our response in our hurt was to be equally destructive and how utterly hypocritical that was of us as a nation. He is saying that people who really mourned that day, the people of New York, had an experience entirely different from the rest of the nation. New York City didn't get the privilege of having the footage being taken off the air because it was "too hard to watch" they watched it happen right before their very eyes. No one was there to pop out the tape for the scenes that were heartbreaking like when the people were jumping out of the building. They weren't getting commercial breaks, they were dealing with what was left. He is using his experience to show a contrast between a city and a nation.
Yes I couldn't have said it better myself. It's one thing to hear poem but another to listen and truly understand it.
You're wrong. See the title of the poem for a clue.
*"When god happens, no one is right."*
I can't make this any clearer to you.
yoyojemojo I think its talking about the fact that we need to stop renaming terrorism as a "war of religion" and realize that if were claiming to be above terrorists and better "children of god" (or just plain human beings) than going to war with iraq and afganastan is completely going against that. We can't claim to be better and above that if we respond in vengeance. We need to realize that going to war only causes more casualities and the death of innocent lives.
@julie thank you. This is exactly correct.
@@yoyojemojo i think thats what she's saying. We are ALL THE SAME underneath is the point. we all suffer and bleed the same and are human, with the same human needs. period.
As a veteran and plankowner of the US NAVY SHIP USS NEW YORK, I want to say thank you my brother. My ship is the one built in tribute to this day. The ship with 7.5 tons of steel from the world trade center built into its hull, built in a spot that cuts through the water as if leading the way. My ship is the one with the motto that reads "STRENGTH FORGED THROUGH SACRIFICE, NEVER FORGET!".
From the bottom of my heart, truly, thank you for this my brother. I promise I will never forget. Never....
wow..........
i havent seen faith move mountains but i have seen what it does to skyscrapers
I mentioned this to every class today, I asked my History and English teacher if we could watch it. Everyone was quiet, many had tears in their eyes. One of my friends who is from NYC was in tears. Here in California we talk and acknowledge but we cant imagine what it was like. We know nothing of how it felt or anything. But everyone after watching this saw this tragedy so differently. It's not just video and pictures and a memorial, it was emotions, community, hope, and grey.
wow. so touched that thsi poem has made it across the country! thanks, anali!
I'm not American, but I remember that day. This gave me a lump in my throat the size of a fucking Grapefruit.
He sounds like Channing Tatum
katherine hates humans omfg he does!! hahaha
More relevant than ever, given the results of the US election (11/9/2016)
What does this actually have to do with the results of the election?
Kind of everything. Kind of nothing. I get both of your points.
It’s amazing how the second he mentioned the towers all the laughters and cheers just died and the room went quiet. That speaks volumes about what 9/11 did to Americans.
People in the comments are missing the main point of this poem being about the 9/11 and not about god.
Daph Duck...it definitely about people using their religion to justify wars and hatred of others. “When god happens” he didn’t name it that on accident, listen again, it’s deeper than a terrorist attack.
_When God happens, children are lied to._
There has never been another reason for gods to happen.
1:52 - 2:05 _"...because when God happens, no one is right. These were times when we lied to our children, when you lie to children no one is right, I can't make this any clearer to you."_
The problem with religion is that it makes children psychotic. I can't make this any clearer to you.
Jonny Vincent Why are you making this about God? You seriously missed the point of this. My guess is you just wanted to start a debate over this excellent testament to the victims of 9/11 and to the citizens who witnessed it. People like you are always turning everything into an excuse to say how religion is bad. When I saw the World Trade Centers collapsing, I saw several of my family members dying, and when you saw it, you only saw an argument against religion. I'm so sorry for you. I am religious. I have been since I was a child and I'm not psychotic. I will teach my children to be religious, and they will not be psychotic. At least they'll love people like I love people. At least they'll accept people no matter their religion rather than classing them as psychotic for it. I wish you could feel the depth of feeling I feel when I see the Twin Towers now, knowing what I know now... then you would understand that that event wasn't a statistic for you to use. It was humanity.
Ben Fitton Have you guys even watched Mike Rosen's brilliant poetry in the video you're commenting on?
If you cannot tell from the title of the video and from the content of the poetry I've quoted verbatim, that Mike is making an impassioned cry against the insanity of your religious lies to children about deities (to exploit _Your Own_), then you are just too blinded and reduced to be breeding life.
Watch Mike's face when he says _"When God happens..."_. Watch him click his fingers. Open your blind eyes.
Ben Fitton Humanity and Religion are mutually exclusive.
*Numbers 31* (KJV)
17 _Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him._
18 _But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves._
That is what religion is all about, lying to children to create boys for war, girls for sale. Warriors and whores, in the best Christian leaching tradition.
*Deuteronomy 5* (KJV)
9 _Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me,_
You're a sick and twisted excuse for a _human_.
*Deuteronomy 6* (KJV)
10 _And it shall be, when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, _*_which thou buildedst not_*_,_
11 _And houses full of all good things, _*_which thou filledst not_*_, and wells digged, _*_which thou diggedst not_*_, vineyards and olive trees, _*_which thou plantedst not_*_; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;_
12 _Then beware lest thou forget the Lord_
You filthy leeches. A sane world would put you down. I know, I know, you're Christian right? *Liar.* There are no Christians, there haven't been any since St Francis of Assisi.
*Luke 14* (KJV)
33 _So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple._
Every single one of you lying vermin demons needs to go into the ground. Your unwillingness to stand on your own two feet without breeding slaves to steal what you do not merit and have no claim to, has been the only disturbance of the peace.
You all miss the point, just thought I'd let you know.
However poetry is subjective to a degree, make of it what you will.
I think i will be forever haunted by this poem.
I'm actually crying.
in this terrible night more than ever, when god happens no one is right.
I cant lie; tears are streaming down my face right now. Whether or not others get it, I loved this.
This remains my favourite spoken word of all time.
I've been thinking about getting back into writing poetry I've been writing since I was 5 but have only performed in front of a big audience 3 times.
Harmony Devaney do it! I believe in you
I second this! :)
because our lives were underneath that rubble and the firemen were looking for the bodies.
It has been ten years and my friend is still looking for her father's body, your war is not helping her find him. Your war has done nothing but add to the list of little boys like me, who wish to sleep at the feet of their fathers beds. My father worked nowhere near the trade centre but didn't know that then, what I knew was that the phone lines were down and that until I heard his voice so was he.
I got tears in my eyes, wow this is a beautiful piece of poetry. I am truly touched, thank you
War Is
War is a stormy night, with roaring lightning and lavish snow, In a once bright morning filled with blooming flowers and gushing sunshine. In the storm we went, to find even the slightest bit of light, through the thick clouds we travel, with no relief in sight. Lightning strikes, through the thunder, the fire is spreading, all around us the wind is screaming. The monster of a storm was unmerciful consuming everything within its path. Through the memories of my mind, the events of the storm will be an everlasting trait of time.
that is my own poem
I love the hush that fell over the audience as he opened with the words "Before the towers collapsed. .."
"When god happens, no one is right," I don't get it. What does that mean?
I am bawling beautiful words sir
Its interesting to me that people who are so sure of their disbelief in god spend so much time looking up, watching, and commenting on religious videos, looks to me like someones searching for answers (: Sorry that you don't hear things that are parallel to your knowledge of the world and our existence, sometimes it just takes an experience to see things in something that seemed like such a foreign concept to you. Just because you are not sure of your own existence doesn't mean you need to harrass others who feel that they are. Love to all and I hope those who leave hate on here find peace in their hearts, God bless.
That seemed very ignorant, to be honest.
We're perfectly aware of our existence. We're biological organisms that have evolved with the ability for extremely complex cognitive thought. We're just trying to make you fuck-wits realize it too. You're the ones who just soak up everything you WANT to hear, and ignore everything that contradicts it.
Believing in God and believing in Santa Claus are the same thing, except Santa Claus seems a bit more credible. I hope you're picking up what I'm laying down.
U Wot When you argue, it is best not to directly insult the people that you have found yourself arguing with.
See, when you attack someone on a personal level, you lose their respect.
They stop seeing you as a person, your points become less legitimate, and it simply cements their belief in the fact that you are incorrect.
Want to win an argument?
Treat people like people.
Now sure, maybe this person is being stupid or biased, and you feel the necessity to prove them wrong- but to be so direct, so aggressive about it only destroys the point that you want to make.
Stop this;
It's dumb.
U Wot I am a student I take all my science classes I am well aware of the nature of human existence, one does not have to believe in science OR god, the two can be combined and make perfect sense from one another, science has as many flaws as religion yet you fail to mention that. It is so unnecessary to run around spitting on other ways of life, diversity is beautiful, and sense can be found in religion more easily from one perspective than another, your beliefs are not fact and your beliefs are not law, and to act like they are is foolish.
Fiona Lovee No, not really, it was actually basic psychology. People go around looking for confirming evidence to build security in their contradicting beliefs, talking shit about another way of life and waiting for some other coward behind a screen to agree with them, its foolish to use the word ignorant so lightly.
Oh My God... This was amazing. I love how the atmosphere in the room was playful until he started speaking. This was so touching and unbelievably amazing. Great, great poem.
I also write poems and make videos.. I'd love some feedback...
Wondering how many names will be added to this list after the U.S conflict with Iran
I am NOT a Poet! I am NOT clever! I think that Sarah Palin is a genius!
i’m a new yorker and every 9/11 I watch this. It really hits me
Congratulations, you are capable of feeling human emotions! It's a beautiful thing, really :)
In my English class we have to pick a poem to remember and recite and I picked this one. My fave. Xxxx
You changed everything for me with that. Thank you and praise god for taking me here
That's what happens
when you can hear a man's
HEART
BEATING
through his words
...powerful
His name is so similar to Michael Rosen, also a poet and children's book author.
to the people who post their "poetry" on the comment section: have some dignity, don't even try. Nobody likes your stuff. thank you and have a nice day.
This piece is a real eye opener
он заставил меня вспомнить о том, что мои родные тоже погибли там.несмотря на то, что они там не погибали.
THE MICHAEL ROSEN RAP
I was looking for this comment
This is extremely touching, but I remember a time when poetry meant rhyming lines alternating or at least rhyming sometimes sending a good message, not a bunch of teens with held in anger at the world who go on stage and rant for a few minutes, gradually getting louder at certain points to make it seem dramatic.
Poetry isn't always rhyming, it just has to have rhythm, some kind of beat... (:
If all you see it as is some rant then obviously you are missing something. And at the end you can clearly see his emotion as he walked off stage so he wasn't just raising his voice for the sake of making it more dramatic. Seriously.
poetry is anything to anyone. poetry could be two little words, or it could be thousands. it could be soft and gentle, or loud and angry. it's just a way of getting your words and feelings out there.
This is more powerful poetry than any rhyme I've ever read, with the possible exception of John Milton's *On the Lord General Fairfax at the Siege of Colchester*
_Fairfax, whose name in arms through Europe rings_
_Filling each mouth with envy, or with praise,_
_And all her jealous monarchs with amaze_
_And rumours loud, that daunt remotest kings;_
_Thy firm unshak'n virtue ever brings_
_Victory home, though new rebellions raise_
_Their hydra heads, and the false north displays_
_Her brok'n league, to imp their serpent wings:_
_O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand;_
_For what can war but endless war still breed?_
_Till Truth and Right from Violence be freed,_
_And Public Faith clear'd from the shameful brand_
_Of Public Fraud. In vain doth Valour bleed_
_While Avarice and Rapine share the land._
Which is basically what Mike Rosen is saying..._"For what can war but endless war still breed? Till Truth and Right from Violence be freed."_
***** Not being a jerk at all, but I am an English major. If you are referring to the play by Christopher Marlowe, the name is actually "Dr. Faustus", if not then you receive my apologies and my ignorance as I am not familiar with Dr. Faust
His voice is beautiful.
that was real maan.
this haunts and gives me chills and it's beautiful
My skepticism at the subject being 9/11 was wiped away by his words. The emotional froth so common in Slam Poetry always reads as false to me. Overacting. Not necessarily something I don't enjoy or appreciate.That these elements are all there and yet the words still overcame me. Brilliant.
I couldn't agree with this more. That's what this poem is largely the point of the piece. Happy to answer questions about that.
Actual chills. My God
If that's how you feel, then maybe NYC should secede and leave the rest of us alone.
can i have him
This is a great poem, much Props. For those who didn't know, this poem was not about how he hates God or something like that. He was saying the incident of 9/11 was about his people and not people the media made it about. He was also saying that this war that is going on now only takes away from his people even more.
Well, I said nothing at all about that war. So you can be sorry if you wish, but I would ask that you not direct it towards me when you don't even know my opinion on the subject. You are entitled to your opinion, and it is THAT point I was addressing - those who say all war is bad or wrong or evil don't know what they are talking about. They are either foolish or uninformed. The freedom you and I have to even talk about this is solely because of a long bloody war. That was my only point.
I am an American soldier myself, and war is indeed a terrible thing, there is no debate on that point. But sometimes there are wars that ARE worth fighting. Freedoms worth defending. Not to say that this war is one of those, but I encourage all of us to bear in mind that if not for a war of pain and loss and misery 230 years ago, none of us, would even have this freedom we so love but take for granted.
Oh my gawd the feels. Living in california and in sixth grade, I was fairly disconnected from that event, and while I was sad, it never struck me with emotion until I found myself in New York, seeing from outside the fence of the memorial where the destruction had happened. Having been there, and having seen it, I can not begin to fathom the terror that filled the city that day. But at least I feel for it now.
Beautiful. The message couldn't be any better , after all what is the point of war if death is all it accounts. 'Terrorism','Jihad' can be formed in any way and not necessarily the Islamist crashing planes into our buildings and killing our people, it could also be our military going into the homes of millions of innocent people all over the world and taking their family away from them because they were born into a society of hate. Thank you Mike. (:
Hey Safee, Thanks for your comment. That is actually very much what the point of this poem is. Or, rather, the point of the poem is that the war has only furthered the atrocities of 9/11 -- not corrected them or made things "even." When I wrote this poem I knew that my experience could not be compared to those of children living in Iraq, Afghanistan or any other war torn country, but I do know that fear is a universal thing. And that's what I wrote about.
in the most Beverly Hills version of a war zone and realise what war might just look like, feel like, taste like in your breakfast cereal when you realise you're sitting there digging cheerios out of a bowl when they're digging bodies out of the ground.
That day was not about your God, or their God because when God happens no one is right. These were times when we lied to our children, when you lie to children no one is right, I can't make this any clearer to you.
I wondered if they would change the postcards now. Put smoke where once were towers and then address them to our relatives in texas and carolina where they were rearing to go to was and say I wish, I wish you were here. I wish you could see these clouds forming under the clouds, I wish you could touch the smell with your nostrils every time you breathe, I wish you could run your hand along your window and wonder how the bodies got through the door and see what it's like to live
That night I feared everything but darkness so I slept on the floor at the foot of my fathers bed. It's a place where monsters and planes are made easy work of.
That morning I went to the window. I whipped my hand along the sill, I watched my fingers turn grey and I thought bodies. But didn't want to wash them, I wanted to go to the roof, I did, I saw the smoke crawling into a postcard, the smell was everywhere.
I was typing it out when I saw your comment, I don't know if this is what you had in mind but here it is:
Before the towers collapsed into a white noise of bodies and strewn papers there were people in the windows.
They clutched family photos and they jumped, became human tombstones, falling into the shrapnel of a city covered in the ash of its own citizens.
A city shapeless and somewhere else riving as it fell.
What a terrible day to be a child. I remember being to stubborn to leave the room when the news was on. I saw the replay of the planes crashing in the buildings. I was so confused and scared and only six years old. That was the day I learned that people who didn't know me would prefer me dead and my Islamophobic father did not help me cope with that reality. For years I was left in the dark- trusting what adults told me about our troops fighting in the middle east. We were there for oil, to stop the terrorist, to liberate the countries citizens. endless reasons were produced justifying the war. I grew up a little and now I know who the real terrorist are. All I have to do to find a terrorist is look in the mirror.
This is one of the greatest poems ever written about any patriotic event that actually does embrace a native of that culture and land. as I listened America seemed not to be great- but to still house visionaries and heroes who can portray the ugliest truth in a way that continuously pushed against gravity the tears under my eyes. know that side of pain. And remind me it wasn't my country that was attacked it was his city...My day hardly changed then. But watchin that changed me in a way I already knew- but now know I knew nothing about..the horrors of that day
I want to say something intelligent here, but I know it won't compare. So instead I'll say that this brought genuine tears to my eyes and put words to feeling I was having trouble grasping at. I don't know if I could ever be that honest to a microphone, but I hope someday that I can write something that gives someone the emotions I'm feeling right now.
this craps all over my spoken word attempt for 9/11. this was a whole 3 minutes of goosebumps to it. the way the audience catcalled as he silently stood...way before they knew the gravity of the piece. the second he breathed the first word and struck them silent. He made me love my dream City with his passion and accent. fucking amazin...
This is the type of Poetry I can actually respect. The fact that you touched on the fact that these were people under that rubble...not Americans but human beings... You are absolutely right. No child should have their father or mother taken away from them like that...be it an Afghani child or a New Yorker. I absolutely love this.
Tragedy is not a competition. Tragedy is not a contest on which is worse. It's something you don't wish on anyone. It doesn't matter if it's 9/11 or if it's war in any country, either of them shouldn't have happened. It's not a matter of which is worse, it's not something that can be measured. It's something that shouldn't have existed in the first place.
I think if anyone said "Hey, remember that time planes crashed into towers in NY?" everyone would know what they meant. It's not impressive. Though, I'm not saying the poem wasn't. It was. The idea that there shouldn't have been such anger on the day, just mourning. How well he explained that idea, that's impressive.
Oh Dearest CheshireCatGrins6, do you understand the concept of spoken word poetry? Or more importantly, did you even listen to the message he was saying or did you just critique it from afar deeming what is poetry and what isn't. I'm sorry but as an audience, we have no right to deem what is, and what isn't art
I lost it listening to this. Being a child in NY when this happened i felt the heat from each passing cars headlights. Not knowing if i would remember the next few seconds. That night felt like every death protecting me. I will always remember it that way..... I don't care what i know i now i don;t care what you think. That day was endless.
i love this because hes not supporting the war
But right after it happened, all of America was preaching "Go to war!" "Avenge us!". As soon as it got hard, people wanted to back out. War sucks. Yes. But that doesn't mean it isn't necessary sometimes. Do you think we should have simply demanded an apology? Wishful thinking....
i doubt that was his "point" more than it was just...the way it was. that's like being impressed by someone you know walking into a room and not stating their name. soren speakspoetry and the other 90 people who agreed with her comment seemed to be impressed by fact.
All I can tell you is that I was 4 when this happened, and I thought it was in MN because I didn't know that our news stations talked about anything outside MN and my dad was a firefighter at the time and I sat there sure he was dead and couldn't stop crying.
Your war has done nothing but add to the list of boys in New York, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, the list of boys who are still waiting for their fathers to come home
That's the whole thing, sorry if it wasn't what you wanted and all of this is spam:)
Realize what war might just look like, feel like, taste like in your breakfast cereal when you realize you're sitting there digging cheerios out of a bowl when they're digging bodies out of the ground.
people talking and laughing at the beginning of the video and then she opens his mouth and your back at that time when it happened. i'm sort of still speechless after this. it was beyond amazing.
too bad we can't directly make decisions on defense (or in this case offense). we elect people and they make decisions for us, even if a majority of the citizens are against it.
i found this so boring. I hate when the performer adds unnecessary and disingenuous emotion. If you arent outwardly emotional about something then let the words do the talking for you. Just a lot of yelling and pretend anger. Shane Koyczan shows real emotion.
Håvard Jarsve
Are you stupid? What does any of that have to do with the fact that the "emotion" that he displayed was less than genuine? I had no issue with the content at all. The delivery was hokey. Period.
evidently you do not live in new york, you did not feel the effects, you didnt lose friends or family. you dont know the feeling that this brought to our city.
iTouchApples01
all of those things that you mention..true or not..have nothing at all to do with my comments on how the performance felt to me. His delivery did not feel genuine. Maybe it was. But it didnt feel as though it was. I thought the words were powerful. The words would have been enough without the distraction of the delivery.
I realize that your comment was from 5 months ago, but I think you need to understand how wrong what you said was. His emotion was not just some faked, performance-enhancing, sham used to increase his chances of winning this competition. His emotion was raw and real. All New Yorkers suffered a loss far greater than people like you, who were off in their own little world on 9/11, too wrapped up in their simple little lives to care. So this poem expresses the deepest feelings of this man. He is passionate about those feelings, and therefore gets emotional. I think you should be ashamed of yourself for even daring to question the genuine nature of his emotion, and I really think you need to think before you speak. It would save you from looking any more stupid than you have on here.
savethefails Put something better on the board or STFU. Your disapproval is illegitimate when your approval is worthless.
"Hate begets hate; violence begets violence..."
Dr. Martin Luther King
As long as people take up arms against one another things like war and terrorism will never end.
When I see a slam video longer than 3:10 I get really scared the poet went over time and lost the bout because of it. Cause that happened to me once and it really sucks...
the drama wasn't necessary, let the beautiful words speak for themselves
Holly shit... I have no words for this. The only thing I can say is this is the single most amazing poem Ive ever heard
I was in preschool when 9/11 happened. I have no memory of the day and I have never felt any personal connection to it. Thank you for making it real for me.
theoretically your right. but i'm sorry to tell you, not only was the war on iraq/Afghanistan a huge mistake. it was a crime against humanity.
Where can I get this and is it published? This was so amazing and I want to know whether or not it can be used in mshsl speech...SO GOOD!
Same here, only thing is I was talking to my mom about the trade center a few days before it happened and the she had to go on a trip for work. I had no idea if she was there or where but when we finally got the phone call that she was stuck in another country until they allowed planes in the air again I was almost calm again
this gave me legit chills
really? if a government is grossly overspending in one sector, wouldn't cutting back free up more spending for other sectors?
uh?
Mike Rosen performs "When God Happens" his poem about 9/11 as part of NYC Urbana Poetry Slam. The Bowery Poetry Club, 5/12
This video can be sumed up like this: If you have seen the horror of war/terrorism, you don't want more war/terrorism
Thanks! I appreciate that! Do you know if it's published though? Cause otherwise, I can't technically perform it...
This touches me in a big way...I have written so much about that day...