Rives--"Nickel"

[mark9241]

wHO IS rIVES, AND WHY IS HE SO SPECIAL? i DO ADMIT i JUST HAD MY BRAIN TRIVALIZED. I apologize for the caps. lol

[irhymespann]

@OGKush2010 Search "Charlie bit my finger".

[TheReactiveme]

I don't see why anyone would dislike Rives :o

[TheKlutchnshift]

9 people dont have nickles

[suchaspacecadet]

just...wow, by the way.

[LinkinLover01]

Thats a hell of a pick up line:)

[PriorityAlcoholic]

The 9 people who dislike this need to clean out there ears.

[ATIsongs]

i cant follow it. makes no sense. AH

[OGKush2010]

62,000 people have seen this... yet millions and millions have seen charlie biting his brother, what a fucking shame

[mfl728]

@OGKush2010 what do you mean by "Charlie biting his brother"?

[kristyturnage]

Amazing....so spot on.

[mylestate]

My oversimpification of this poem is that its a microcosm of a relationship from when he finds her on the street, wooes her, they love each other, begin to fight, fights get really serious, they seperate and he goes through the mourning period.

[voxiphiliac]

I wish someone would call me "smarty panties."

[Darote]

hey smarty panties

[Sa7arSoRight]

<3 rives

[historiesinrust]

amazing. he's so brilliant. and goddamn sexy, too.

[MsBlablabla123]

word.

[DollfaceErin]

I like "half an hour later...Were F*cking your earrings off" hahah Rives! LOVE YOU! MY favorite poem!

"And noo you shouldnt go off an get blow jobs without me"

[TheSauti]

@bennyj - Botswana

[TheSauti]

Someone bring this man to Africa already!!!! beautiful. him and the poem.

[bennyj38]

wat part of africa? I'm from eritrea...

[MsNiyat]

@bennyj38 Me2

[rumeamiu]

I just keep coming back to hear it again and again

[DahliaLirette]

This is my favorite poem. "Smarty panties" has become a fixture.

[zippythewildone]

My grandma casually mentioned Nancy Drew in conversation and I had to go listen to this poem.

[TaraEscudero]

This is nice, slow and the kind of relaxation where you're on your toes.

[patbus23]

"if you were a bird, you would still be left-handed"

I love RIVES.

he is sexy!

[hagarenhanyou]

I love him. So much.

Eargasms!

[AjiCerise]

Yup.

[l0vewins]

^_^ smartie panties.

[tip0fthetongue]

Ugh Rives I'm in love with you! I cannot stop coming back to this!

[Raharaha56]

haha, "i'd doggy style nancy drew!"

[Raharaha56]

Hahah, Nancy Drew.

Man, I love Rives so much.

[nomadichence]

someone suggested that this couple might evovle into the one in gloucoma, evidence is in the lines "you are my sunshine" in this poem, and the guy refering to his girl as "sunshine" in gloucoma.....

[hagarenhanyou]

And then in Compliment he calls her a sunflower growing in the courtyard of an old folks home. =]

Maybe he just likes that type of metaphor for love poems.

[WPM1414]

Easily my favorite poet.

[kmac08attack12]

omgosh i love it, funny n sweet

[nomadichence]

smartypanties...funny...

[SteshaBunny08]

flawless. He always amazes me.

[trigunner87]

what a guy.

[wikkedchik90]

whole new meaning to love poems..ilike

[JosesDonkey2112]

how the hell do you guys know what he is talking about! my brain hurts thinking about it. awesome nonetheless. rives is amazing.

[SFDiggins]

wow...by the way.

wow is right. I am a different person now from seeing this man preform

[silverfencer]

Who is this guy?

[trigunner87]

this is rives

[frogswhatfrogs]

"If we were all birds, you would still be left handed" I don't really know what it means, but I relate to it. That's poetry.

[peabods87]

It means if we were all the same, she would still be unique.

[frogswhatfrogs]

:P yea, I realised that. But there's something more interesting about the banality of "left handed"; he could be saying she's unique in a normal way, suggesting how she's not that different really? Maybe he's suggesting she's only superficially different, since being left handed isn't that important? And so on!

[peabods87]

Huh, never saw it that way, but that would make sense too. Now that I listen too it more closely I think you're right.

[trigunner87]

possibly, but the way i see it is being left handed is not normal, theyre a minority, theyre "weird" so maybe hes saying her uniqueness is unique even from uniques point of view.

[JaneyfromKorea]

golf balls self-conscious lolol

[tip0fthetongue]

Rives you are so inspirational. I love your words-- so unique, powerful, flawless.

[randompalindrome]

what's with the nap? If someone would do almost a line by line analysis of this poem that would be awesome.

For years my atm code was consider it because I wasn't (what?)

I wish I got all of this poem.

[TrevDale]

well from my view of this poem, and from what i understand. this poem is to a girl that he misses that got away from him, and he couldn't tell her this before she left, so he wrote her this poem. the nap part is just about him resisting her, like a child resists taking naps, and the ATM part, is considerate, not consider it, so that might help you out in understanding that part, i don't really know why that was his ATM code tho...any other parts you don't understand i'd be glad to try and help

[randompalindrome]

Thanks! I do have another problem.

"I know that the hydrant on the corner of your memory and your diary is not only open it's 90 proof."

I don't have any clues.

Also the left handed bird thing.

Thanks so much.

[TrevDale]

the hydrant is a metaphor for the the memory and diary, which are basically the same thing. and 90 proof means it's open and spewing a strong liquid, so he's saying that he's pretty much getting drunk off of her secrets. the bird thing is just saying that if they were something other than human she would still be as unique as she already is

[barnequashesha06]

my $0.02 ..

kids never want to take naps bcuz they feel like they don't need it but after they are forced to take the nap, they wake up & appreciate the nap; they realize how good the nap was for them & how much better off they are bcuz of da nap.

This may have been his rxn to the girl b4 and after dating her. He moved from seeing her as a nuisance to a necessity. This change in paradigm came about bcuz she helped him to become considerate, a trait he'd strived for but couldnt achieve alone.

[illstraete]

i wish i could write like this.

i will one day.

[jtsbodyrocker]

how old is rives supposed to be? i've watched some of his old performances and dude is ageless haha

[thehonesttruth00]

...hey Rives...my name is Joe...also known as Atticus Inch...i performed at the Black Pearl Poetry 2 Year Anniversery...i don't know if you remember me...still...you do great work man...

[jtsbodyrocker]

can he come fuck my earrings off?

[Laynaesbonita]

"Smarty Panties"

[razorxsex]

Spoken Word is seriously one of the best thing ever shown to me.

Life changing really.

[IJustWantRevenge]

this almost made me cry its so sad and adorable at the same time!with every poem i hear of his i fall more in love with him and his writing!

[ow200]

Just... Wow, by the way.

[psych0sloth]

This was AMAZING!

[MalcDaMouf]

well you're an idiot for looking so hard into these things, and you're wrong anyway.

[fakertfakersonJR]

Never let the truth get in the way of a good story!

[aokay19]

Well, then. Thanks for sharing. That was really insightful.

[aokay19]

well, i think the full length mirror comment is a reference to his other poem, kite, where he talks about standing in front of her full length mirror naked after the first night they made love. my theory is that 'nickel' is the end of the relationship that was just beginning in 'kite'. it's incredibly sad.

[fakertfakersonJR]

Or, as a happier thought, this relationship was rocky, but as she has left him and come back 5 previous times, so there is hope they might eventually develop into the couple in Glaucoma.

[ridesobright]

There's hope for me then... I want my rocky relationship to turn into the couple in Glaucoma. Maybe it would help if I could write like Rives. :( I'll just have to send her Rives' words and tell her he speaks for me and when she comes back we will look back on this and say, "ah, Rives saved us".

[kokumusicismylove]

I am in love with a poet. I fell in love just by his play on words.

[recheli]

I love the way he says: "cutie pie." :P

[EhGirl]

I love Rives

[justinpodur]

does anyone understand the alphabet blocks from your childhood never got a proper burial or the not standing next to folding mirrors? i don't get either one of those things...

[rebelpants]

the alphabet blocks -she's a poet. Most kids, their first toy is alphabet blocks...but she never moved on from them...she's still stacking, building and playing with words all these years later. Mirrors - I think he actually said "Full-length Mirrors"...which I take as a reference to getting older, a little less cocky...you no longer want to see all of your body at once.

But of course, all art is subjective, and any analysis is part confession...but that's what I take from it.

[randompalindrome]

groovy

[doncotto1]

Too many slam poetry artists scream and shout, but Rives gets his point across with a straight-talk manner with an inflection that suits his stories. I really like him.

[rubenselke]

r u doing stand up??

[TheyCallMeBug]

dude is one of the best, and will continue to be...guaranteed!

[poppys4sleep]

"you can wrap your vida loca around"

That's great.

[baudbwoy]

what does that mean?

[quitejaded]

vida loca is spanish for crazy life, but it felt like he was making a sexual innuendo, too...

[Capuletsdie]

The Woman who lost her earrings that night is extremely lucky.

[Heewack77]

really?

[Capuletsdie]

You'd be pretty damn blessed just to meet Rives.