I present to you the undefeated, reining, defending competitors hailing from anywhere human life resides. These competitors have no specific expected gender just courage, heart, and art. It takes a lot courage to do what they do day in and day out, weekly or monthly then go back to being the everyday people. The everyday people that walks with us and around us. We know these people very well. Hell we are those people.
The people that put their life, love, hate, business, and memories on the stage. what ever can be done to human being more than likely has been talked about on this stage.
That's what makes them, them, that's what makes us, us, and that's what makes anyone who has graced a stage or a microphone a spoken word artist.
We as spoken word artists put our lives, our history, our passionate interest to words and later to ears of our friends, associates or complete strangers and sometimes allow those same ones to give our narratives, our practices, our life choices scores.
Some people will argue that soldiers have a harder job than us but soldiers takes the orders and choose weather or not to follow them, while we the spoken word artist make the orders, coordinate the orders, execute them and protect ourselves when the time is up.
That's why we say "don't be nice poet". Because we speak the truth, we speak our truth. And the truth hurts, yeah the truth sets you free, free of a job, a connection, a life but we still "go in poet" anyway.
No matter how defeated we feel after every line we write we're undefeated, as long as respect is shown to this stage, we're defending, and every day we survive our trauma to tell we're reining champions. This is what makes me, you, us the reining, undefeated and defending Spoken Word Artist.

I have a little brother, a lot of people tell me he act just like me, everything I do he wants to do it too.
Every girlfriend I had, was his girlfriend too.
Every word I say he'll say it too.
Even the titles I give to people he'll give them it too, even his father. I love that he wants to be me so badly, more than badly than me.
I don't want him to inherit the pains of having short legs but big sports aspirations.
I don't want him have short temper in his bloodline.
I want him to inherit my vocabulary but not my definitions in words like father.
I don't want him to inherit the taste of regret when saying words like father. This is a poem letting them know why I never called him dad.

1. You're not my dad.
2. You were my step dad.
3. You were fitting everyone's definition of father too well.
4. I'm not going to call you father either
4. You didn't buy me the nice shoes that he did for school.
5. But you drove to school though.
5. You came to my basketball games though
5. You came to my football games.
6. I wanted the best of both worlds. Yeah my dad was the Hannah Montana star on the weekends he was staged for but all of age 6 you were there for. Age 6 you was the Miley Cyrus amongst us that I saw everyday.
7. I stopped calling you step dad when I realized step dad was dad's in second place.
8. You told me you loved me before he did.
8. Was the age, I realized your name meant more than a title father held.
9. I can't call you dad because I associated father for monster under the bed. Not man fighting my monsters.
10. You're not my dad, you're you and I appreciate that.

Animated means to bring to life.
Animation is evolving.
Animation went from being point A and point B to finally involving the journey.
Animation has evolved to being three dimensional. Seeing more than just right and wrong but now seeing reason. So when my significant others attempt to shoot me down by telling me I'm too animated, I smile.
I smile because I have evolved.
I smile because I'm finally bringing you to life. You brought me into your life only, not to feel lonely anymore. All the problems that won't here between us in the past are finally arising as you are growing muscles on your backbone that only See's right and wrong.
Is it that the problems aren't transparent anymore or are your bones finally catching something in between them. Anyway you break down the definition of Me, you will always get that I am alive. Even the Greek breakdown of the word animate still say I'm soulful even more than your soul food.
It's not my fault when you want to send problems my way I change the environment we're dueling in like a Yu-Gi-Oh field spell card. You want me to get real like bullets but even then shots I avoid them like the matrix.
I can get real like the Hokages death and still show honor in our battles like I'm Goku. Animation shouldn't be the reason why our relationship takes a step back. That shows me that you were dead from the start and I should of started my prologue somewhere else.

I am team pencil, because just like in life I make mistakes. Being human is alot of qualities and characteristics but to me it can be easily decoded as trial and error. For some people that trial and error can be as small as "I got to choose what to eat for breakfast but the error was not having anything to drink". Being a leader is being human but your level of impact on your decisions are much more costly. Sometimes costly in the literal since or sometimes costly as you did not mean for that to happen. Being a leader is automatically writing in pen which I hate, but knowing that someone out there will see exactly what I wrote and how I wrote it is what makes me both proud and anxious. Anxious that someone will make my same mistakes. Proud someone will learn from my mistakes. Anxious that my every move is being watched and proud that I know that I'm going to be a inspiration to someone, Thus is why I chose to be a leader, this is why I sometimes write in pen.

I'm Rigor mortis
But provoked, move like viper
I'm mouse trap's real form

When my gf fell in love with me, she loved that I was different. She loved how I was always there for her in a flash like a cheetah, chill like a sloth, but protective like a lion. The day finally came when she asked me what is my spirit animal. I told her I'm a chameleon, constantly blending into my surroundings, only eating the prey that's weaker than me that passes by. She saids I'm white washed, I need to be more hyena, more aggressive, aware, in touch with the wild, black. I want to tell her, isn't that why you loved me in the first place. That I'm just not another dog in a pack. Another dog whose defenseless when singled out. Another dog whose bark and bite can only be used in a pack. Another dog who searches blindly for his food. Another dog that you're used to, but I am not a dog, I'm don't see just black and white. I'm a chameleon, I'm not blind, I'm vigilant but never searching for trouble but when trouble finds me I have a cobra for tounge and a ability to blend in where I don't belong like no other. Instead spiting out the venom I've been brewing in my brain for 3 minutes I say, ok.