About time | Marlon Carey | TEDxBoston

"We don't have any Rubik's Cubes lying around, do we?"

In today's technology-obsessed culture we are constantly flooded with stimuli meant to entertain. Spoken word poet Marlon Carey brings poetry back into the mix. Here, he ruminates on our clock-work existence.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

The other day I watched a TED Talk
with Natalie Merchant.

She revitalized these poems
by adding music and adding costuming,

and she reinterpreted
a lot of classical poetry.

I also watched one

with my friend Reeves
doing a great spoken word piece

with lots of graphics
on the mystery surrounding 4:00 am.

You've seen that one. Amazing.

So I kept thinking
poetry needs to keep pushing.

We need to keep going further and further

in order to keep up with this generation
of iPad users and texters.

We need to be able
to keep poetry innovative,

so I think we should push
to a different level.

And what if a poet were telling you a poem

while solving the Rubik's Cube?

Wouldn't that be like amazing?

(Laughter)

I mean, we really don't have
any Rubik's Cubes lying around now, do we?

(Laughter)

(Applause)

Okay.

So since we have this cube,
at this time in our history,

it isn't so amazing to see
somebody solve a Rubik's Cube.

You can go on YouTube

and find somebody
solving it in record time,

with one hand tied
behind their back, with their toes.

I suppose the only thing

that separates the average human being
from one who could solve it

is putting in the time.

Speaking of time,
want to hear a poem?

(Audience) Yeah!

It seems like I'm always wasting time,

buying time, spending time,
or trying to borrow some time,

but these days, time is money.

I heard somebody say
that money is time.

Now, money doesn't grow on trees,

but "It is the root of all evil,"
my mother always said.

People who have a lot of money

seem to have all the time
in the world, don't they?

But money isn't everything.

Time is of the essence,

and essentially,

in order to get more time,
I've got to have lots of money,

but in order to get more money,
I've got to spend time,

so time is the most valuable currency.

I would like to share time,
but I have no spare time,

not even time enough to make changes -

change the world that change my mind.

Time is running out.

There's never enough time.

Getting a college degree

takes too much time
and costs too much money,

so kids do crimes, end up locked up,

serving time for stealing money,
doing hard time,

for about the same amount of money

it would cost to get them
a college degree, but -

Meanwhile,

(Laughter)

outside the prison gates,

hunger eats away
at the walls of a child's stomach.

Daddy worked overtime,

but the company accountant
took some well-deserved time off

to getting some tee time
and time with the kids.

You'll get your check in due time.

Meanwhile, I'm standing
in the lunch line,

trying to find a moment to write a rhyme,

and I find myself
sneaking off to the men's room

to steal a few minutes of my boss's time,

realizing I'll probably
never have enough time,

because when I signed that dotted line,
I signed away all my free …

(Audience) time.

So now my time
exists before nine and after five,

and some nights I was there
way past nine,

so I never had time
to spend at my friends.

And though I was chasing the Benjamins,

somehow I never had
any ends to spend.

When we finally did carve out
a few minutes from our busy days,

and then we would simply coalesce
around a common thread

and coexist inside the hays,

wiling away the minutes

discussing the disgusting parts
of our dismal existences -

punching in, punching out, serving time.

Prisoners trapped inside the hourglass,

choking on the sand storm
of possibilities,

wishing we could all go back in time

and remind ourselves to take the time
to appreciate the gift of time.

And right now, through all the time outs,

the time on stage, the studio time,

the time and time again, bad timing,

the absent-minded time spent wondering,

"Will I get my big break this time,

or should I just throw in the towel
or resign and get back up my grinding,

so I could all out the wasted times
to have to make up for lost time?"

Just yesterday, oh I looked up
in the sky and I saw a sign.

Technology, education,
entertainment, design,

an organization dedicated
with ideas in mind,

and I thought,

well,

it's about ... time.

(Applause) (Cheers)