041: Incognito

Don’t want the fame or the fortune,
just want to die great.
Don’t want to make it rain,
Don’t want you to remember my name,
just want to meet my fate.
Don’t want shelter from poverty,
Don’t want to be a celebrity,
Don’t want the press to acknowledge me,
just want my tale to run late.
Don’t want reality TV shows,
Tattoos of me or a cast of my nose,
A Benz or a Mansion, a status that grows,
A mountain of gold or a name like “The Rose,”
I want a straightforward checkmate.

Don’t want some books to be written of me,
and well, if they do, they had better not mention me,
Don’t want a Mini-me,
Please never shout for me,
Don’t want some friends only friends with the monied-me,

Just tell my anonymous story late:
A man once journeyed from grave to gate…

}{

For newcomers — a note on 50 @ 25:

Once upon a time, I read that the perfect age for writing quality poetry is twenty-three. Apparently most of T.S. Elliot’s stuff came out then, the rest of his work being supposedly non-poetic. This resulted in 46 poems written at 23.

These poems came out exponentially faster and faster before my 24th birthday on April 30th – and I had to write in genres spanning from epic ballads to limericks to get 46 in on time. I guess that means, for better or worse, that’s the best poetry I’ll ever write. Sad day.

Who was I kidding?

Milton was blind and oldoooooold—when he publishedParadise Regained. Emily Dickenson was dead when her stuff came out. My favorite stuff from T.S. Elliot came out after his conversion. So yeah, old age is good for poetry too. Look at Burns and Berry.

(Side note: the name “Berry Burns” sounds like a shady car salesman).

Will I keep up this twice-my-age regimen every few years? Who knows, but this year, here’s to 50 poems at 25 to be written exponentially faster until I turn 26 on April Thirtyish. I do it this the second time around as a way to say: “Here’s to living life well before it’s too late.”

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  1. Doberman

    I think this is ‘Keepin’ it real’. I wish it was something…well a message we could give to kids without having to explain “No, I don’t mean you don’t have to work hard…just….be a good person.” It seems as though we all have to find our way to the place where we just want to be happy without the external trappings that bombard us via advertising.

    Are you gonna rap this? I don’t know if I can write rap. I like the theme very much and the style suits the theme excellently.

    1. lanceschaubert

      Hahah, thanks. I agree about what we teach our kids…

      Rap this? I dunno… I just recently made that discover that I am a baritone, not a tenor, so I had to through out most of the practical stuff I had learned from my voice instructor and keep only the music theory. So I’m scared to write anything musical…

      …but my buddy just showed me how to use my iPad to do sampling. So maybe I’ll make an R&B version of this for kicks.

      And snares.

  2. logankstewart

    I agree with Doberman. This reads just like a rap, perfect meter and assonance. Great job!

    1. lanceschaubert

      Thanks, bro. I have wanted to try my hand at R&B before but never had the equipment to give it a go.

      1. logankstewart

        And here I was, thinking you a beatboxer. That’s all the equipment you need. I learn all my mad beatboxing skills from PBS’s The Electric Company.

        1. lanceschaubert

          Haha. I do beatbox as a habit, but I’m terrible at it — as in “I’m sure my EDM friends are rolling their eyes right now.”

          PBS is everything cool on TV. It’s the only thing keeping TV from sinking into complete cesspit-ville.

Quick note from Lance about this post: when you choose to comment (or share this post with your friends) you help other readers just like you.

How?

Well, see, your comments & sharing whisper a few things to those who come after you:

The first is that this site is a safe place to speak up & stay curious. That it's civil. That discussion is encouraged. That there's no such thing as a stupid question (being a student of Socrates, I really and truly believe this). That talking to one another and growing together is more important than anything we could possibly publish. That the point is growing in virtue and growing together and growing wise. That discovery is invention, deference is originality, that we all can rise together. The only folks I'm going to take comments down from are obvious jerks who argue in bad faith, don't stay curious, or actively make personal attacks. And, frankly, I'd rather we talk here than on some social media farm — I will never show ads and the only thing I'm selling anywhere on the site or my mailing list is just the stuff I make.

You're also helping folks realize that anything you & they build together is far more important than anything you come to me to read. I take the things I write about seriously, but I don't take myself seriously: I play the fool, I hate cults of personality, and I also don't really like being the center of attention (believe it or not). I would much rather folks connect because of an introduction I've made or because they commented with one another back and forth and then build something beautiful together. My favorite contributions have been lifelong business and love partnerships from two people who have forgotten I introduced them. Some of my closest friends NOW I literally met on another blog's comment section fifteen years ago. I would love for that to happen here — let two of you meet and let me fade into the background.

Last, you help me revise. I'm wrong. Often. I'm not embarrassed to admit it or worried about being cancelled or publicly shamed. I make a fool out of myself (that's sort of the point). So as I get feedback, I can say, "I was wrong about that" and set a model for curious, consistent learning, and growing in wisdom. I'm blind to what I don't know and as grows the island of my knowledge so grows the shoreline of my ignorance. It's the recovery of innocence on the far end of experience: a child is in a permanent state of wonder. So are the wise: they aren't afraid of saying, "I don't know. That's new: please teach me." That's my goal, comments help. And I read all reviews: my skin's tough, but that's not license to be needlessly cruel. We teach one another our habits and there's a way to civilly demolish an idea without demolishing another person: just because I personally can take the world's meanest 1-star review doesn't mean we should teach one another how to be crueler on the internet.

For three magical reasons — your brave curiosity, your community, & my ignorance:

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