A few months ago, I [Lihi Be] stood on a stage in New York City and performed slam poetry for the first time. The scene was hosted by Nuyorican Poets' Cafe at the Bowery Poetry Club, a small, legendary room where decades of poets have stepped up to a microphone and turned their inner worlds into sound.
It's the kind of place where language has history, where words have weight, where the air feels charged from voices that came before.
I remember standing there, waiting my turn, feeling my heart beating in my throat,
which surprised me.
I’ve spoken in front of rooms before. I’ve guided workshops, taught movement, led breathworkjourneys where people open parts of themselves that are tender and alive.
Holding space for others doesn’t scare me.
But this was different.
This time, I wasn’t holding material space; I was the material.
A poem I wrote alone earlier that morning was about to leave the page and hit the stage, entering a room full of strangers, not through dead ink, but through my living breath, my voice, my body.
Until that moment, "poetry" was something I wrote, never something I performed.
When I published my book, The Self, Reframed, it felt like a big step outward. Suddenly the poems were technically "public." Someone, anyone, could order the book, underline a passage, carry a piece of it into her own life.
Butt even then, there was still distance.
The page protected me.
Readers meet a poem alone. They can pause, reread, close the book, throw it in the garbage disposal, flip the switch, make acid-free wood pulp that washes out to sea... That meeting happens quietly, inside their own interior worlds.
Shame? We refuse to limit ourselves
Slam poetry is different:
Spoken word removes the distance. When one performs a poem, there is no safe distance, no page between the room and the I performing. My breath carries my language. My nervous system becomes part of the delivery. My voice, my pauses, my trembling chest -- all of it becomes part of my poem.
In some ways, it feels easier to be naked than to perform one's own poem, in the woods, with someone you love, in front of Mother Nature, playing pretend it's Adam and Eve in a Sumerian garden.
I was in New York for a series of gatherings -- one of them a nude experience I was hosting with the Füde Experience: a roomful of naked people exploring embodiment, mindfulpresence, the simplicity of being in our bodies without the usual layers of social armor.
Standing naked in a room with others didn’t feel nearly as vulnerable as standing on this stage.
In fact, being naked felt surprisingly simple. Source: a poem is a different kind of naked (seeds of the self)
"No bikinis! Cover up those shameful bodies...or you are headed for hell!" - Loving Christian
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Lihi Be (Benisty)
AUTHOR: Lihi Be (Benisty), teacher of somatic self-inquiry, breathwork, movement, teacher, mentorship, poetry, summer retreat leader, author of The Self, Reframed. She leads a dynamic blend of somatic practices to navigate emotional landscapes. She is profoundly committed to the poetic art of self-inquiry through breathwork and movement. Her teaching is distinguished by her ability to weave these elements into a cohesive practice that respects the complexity of the human experience. Her poetry serves as a reflective mirror, deepening the themes she navigates in her somatic work and offering an additional avenue for connection and self-discovery. She lives in Los Angeles, California. (Substack, Instagram, FÜDEin LA, Amazon, Facebook, Omega Institute, lihibe.com)
This 'l save our kids from capitalist exploitation
The Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) was a bipartisan U.S. government committee formed in 1985 [1] with the stated goal of "increasing parental control over children's access to music deemed to have violent, drug-related, or sexual themes."
The committee's work led to the widespread adoption of the Parental Advisory sticker. The PMRC was known for its prejudicial targeting of heavy metal music, which drew opposition and criticism [2].
On political and religious grounds, the committee was supported by American Protestant televangelists, Reaganites, and the larger Christian evangelical movement, who accused hard rock and heavy metal music of harboring Satanic and occult related themes.
The committee was founded by four women known as the "Washington Wives"—a reference to their husbands' connections with the government power elite in the Washington, D.C. area.
Those female founders of the PMRC are Tipper Gore, wife of Senator and later Vice President Al Gore... More
Stranded hiker 'death gripping' cliff in Southern California rescued | FOX 11 LA
(FOX 11 Los Angeles) April 15, 2025: Dramatic video shared by the Riverside County Sheriff's Office Aviation Division shows a daring rescue that unfolded over the weekend on the Pacific Crest Trail in Southern California as a well-equipped hiker slipped off the trail under very sunny conditions and into a small crevasse or fold, where she became trapped and terrified, clinging on for dear life.
My most brutal wingsuit flight ever | Täschhorn (4491 meters)
(Swiss JoHannes | Wingsuit) After years of dreaming, we finally did the highest possible wingsuit base jump in the Alps, from the top of Täschhorn, Switzerland.
Big hug to Mario for joining me on this mission. I couldn't have done it without him. Thanks, Bro! In total, we climbed for about 9 hours and spent one night at the Mischabeljoch bivouac. It was challenging leaving nothing behind and flying down with all of our equipment.
On the top we have to scramble five pitches to the exit point, belayed gear up. I jumped around 10:30 am during perfect conditions, without thermals (rising heat columns).
But after 40 seconds of flying, my arms were really tired, so I couldn't hold the glide and had to fly more steeply. Unfortunately, it is not getting much better. It is becoming a serious problem as I can hardly feel my fingers holding on.
Now if I could just learn to "fly" on land
Antonia was waiting at the LZ with a cold one. Mario and I landed safely. I don't know what happened to my weak arms... Was it the altitude or the heavy bag? I was exhausted AF and glad we got down safely. What a mission, what a mountain! Source
(Jedd.0953) Sept. 30, 2024: The world of satirical humor owes a great debt to the goofballs who created Mad Magazine.
Every generation has some connection to the Mad brand, but there really aren't many fun videos surrounding its legacy as a brand, so here we go with one attempt.
💀Music ListWandering - District LostSuperNova- District LostHow Far? - District LostFunGun - DainumoBad Micheal Jackson 8bitLemon Demon - Hyakugojyuuichi 2003Bizet - HabaneraNever Gonna give You Up 8bitJellies Theme SongInstagram 💀/ j3dd.0 Twitter 💀https://x.com/NitroGaiden
Not everyone wants to be a writer, but every writer wants to be a better writer. How? It's good to read a lot and read widely. The examples we stumble upon do much to open the mind to the possibilities of the pen. It is sometimes even better if we can glean some advice from successful writers. They do not endure by chance but by the whim of changing tastes of the audience. What will endure 100 years from now? That's what matters to those attempting to write literature. For the rest, the producers of pulp fiction, anything will do. It's all just fodder for sales. Beware the imitators. Kerouac is more influential now because he influenced so many influential people after him. He was onto something, studying Buddhism before it was trending.
Jack Kerouac's rules for good writing
(polymathematics) Oct. 17, 2018: Jack Kerouac, the king of the Beats, has 30 rules for writing to share with aspiring writers of any generation. Rule 0, which is not stated, is "Be ruggedly handsome." Look what it did for James Dean. But great writing can overcome even that.
By Jove and Jack, I think I got it — the spirit of the Beat, like when they say, "What do kids like about the crazy music today?" It's the same reason it's always been, whether the parents understand it or not: the beat, the beat, the beat!
Going Off Road
Get out of my way.
Seven (5/19/24) I swerve on each turn, like I always do, like I've always done all my life, turning to stare at people who interest me, because the ones I prefer are the madcaps, the spirited ones overwhelmed with a sense of urgency to reach the ring, to say something worth saying, to seize liberation, with a zest for everything all at once, madcap laughers like Syd B., who never utter an obliging commonplace, but revel and burn, who plummet like a shooting star, shining bright falling far, streaking phosphenes into the eye, flares, shattered glass, a thousand multiplications of the sun, each a sparkle in the heat, a gleam of steam the fogged breath of a wolverine, and everyone pants, "F yeah!" (Inspired by JK's On the Road)
Charles: Too derivative.
Seven: Of course it's derivative. I'm a student, following his example. I'm more passionately saying what he was attempting to say but at a more pounding beat, given the fiercer music we have today — grindcore and Bambie Thug, The Agonist (Alissa White-Gluz) and Dimmu Borgir, Die Antwoord and Eternal Conspiracy. It's madness, howling, burning from the inside as Bauhaus would say. Primal scream.
Charles: In that case, try it again.
Seven: We should open it up to readers of Wisdom Quarterly: American Buddhist Journal. I'm sure any writer reading has in mind the deluded thought, "I'm sure I could do it better." Write it. Send it in — to the Comments Section below. We won't print it unless it's worth printing. (Comments do not automatically post).
Charles: So it's a contest?
Sort of. Here are the parameters. Pass this and be invited to send in more writing for consideration and possible publication. Writing is better when it has more restrictions, fewer degrees of freedom. Think about it. If the prompt were merely, "Do whatever." That's too many possibilities. But if there are fewer and fewer degrees of freedom, suddenly greatness emerges. We'll only give three rules to be able to judge and to be judging the same thing (comparing oranges to oranges):
Limit of 12 words
Topic: Burning from the inside
Use the word "road"
Charles: That sounds easy enough.
Seven: Guarantee you, Chuck, most will s***w it up, which will cut down on our number of finalists.
Charles: But a dozen words?
Seven: Honest Tea, their limit was 6 words, and people sent in amazing things that were printed on the inside of the caps. "Brevity is the heart of poetry." Get to the point. Edit. Cut the fat.
Charles: That's too hard; they'll never get it.
Seven: Okay, we'll add a fourth stipulation:
Break one of the rules, if you want, but say which one you broke or be disqualified.
Charles: That's impossible.
Seven: No, we already have a submission. The contest has only been going on for 7 minutes, and we already have a submission.
Charles: What is it?
Sariputra saw it just as it is.
Seven: It comes from a Mr. Buddha from Scythia, who has chosen to break the third rule, and has nevertheless come up with something very profound:
Does Kim work for the Devil, get told what to do by demons, or have Illuminati membership?
Nikki Glaser shares the jokes she didn’t tell at Tom Brady’s roast
Pete, they were so mean to me (PageSix)
(5 Minutes with The Howard Stern Show) May 6, 2024: Nikki Glaser reads the jokes she didn't tell at the Netflix Roast of Tom Brady. Get her FULL interview with Howard Stern now on SiriusXM! 👉 sxm.app.link/NikkiGlaser-HS #SternShow #HowardStern
Nikki Glaser on roasting Tom Brady, her dad kissing her on the lips and remembering she’s going to die
(Jimmy Kimmel Live) May 7, 2024: Nikki talks about getting confused for Josh Brolin’s wife (her identical twin) in an intimate picture he posted, doing the Tom Brady roast, jokes she ended up pulling, her dad kissing her on the lips the way Brady kisses his son, her parents meeting celebrities at the event, and her new HBO comedy special “Someday You’ll Die.” #Kimmel
(TMZ) Delivers the star worship with Met Gala, Madonna, roast, more
Kardashian survives this country hating her
Kim booed at Brady’s roast edited out of live Netflix special
Well, that just about wraps it up for Kimee
(Access Hollywood) May 8, 2024: Kim Kardashian was booed during a live taping of Netflix’s "The Greatest Roast of All Time: Tom Brady,” and despite the moment going viral on the internet, you aren’t able to see it on the streaming platform because it was edited out. On May 5, the Armenian reality star took the stage, after being introduced by Kevin Hart, to roast 7-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady, and while she was initially met with cheers from the audience, that quickly turned to boos. “All right, all right, all right,” the SKIMS founder said in response. #accesshollywood#kimkardashian
Kim Kardashian gets ruthlessly BOOED, Madonna plays to 1.6 million crowd (world record), more
(TMZ) TV full episode for 5/6/24 (released May 7, 2024) KK gets ruthlessly booed at Tom Brady roast, Madonna crushes personal concert record with 1.6 million fans in Rio (at a tour finale free show), J Lo (Illuminati member Jennifer Lopez) left hanging for a ride at star-studded pre-Met Gala dinner, and Teyana Taylor puts on a sexy show.
Kim Kardashian, Page Six (New York Post); Nikki Glaser; ET (Entertainment Tonight), May 8, 2024; Howard Stern Show, May 6, 2024; Jimmy Kimmel Live!, May 7, 2024; Access Hollywood, May 8, 2024; TMZ, May 7, 2024; Sheldon S., Seth Auberon, Pfc. Sandoval (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
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