Snapshot 4- Music and Poetry by Gunnar Flavell

            Music and poetry to me is an escape and a tool I use in my everyday life.  When I listen to music I use it as an amplifier for my own internal thoughts.  When I write poetry I use it as a tool to place my feelings and beliefs into a 3 dimensional world.

            Growing up for me racing motocross and being a professional athlete, I began to use music as an equalizer to balance my thoughts and goal's and apply them to my performance on the bike or in preparation off the track.  I used to just sit behind the starting gate at all the nationals, minutes before my moto, with my headphones blasting while my father would line my bike up and get it ready.  It was sort of like my zin moment, taking the fast paced beats and strong creative lyrics of 2-pac or Eminem and applying it to my riding style by calming my state of mind.

            As I grew older and became stronger in my Christian faith, I started listening to Propaganda, a slam poet and Christian music artists.  Propaganda opened up my mind as a poet and drove me to write about my faith as a Christian and sharing the things God has done in my life.

            Going back to music, I found Colson Baker (aka: Machine Gun Kelly’s) music to be very influential in my training and racing regiment.  Although very profane, MGK’s music speak’s about growing up in Cleveland, and overcoming inequalities in his life to make his hopes and dreams come true.

One specific song that always lit a fire in my mind was a song titled “See My Tears”, in which MGK talks about the past struggles of his life, while also teaching lessons, and reflecting on his hard work which got him where he is today.  The lyrics in the song say “you can’t see my tears, in the rain.  Underneath it all were just the same, same, same.  MGK later stated that it’s what we can’t see that’s the problem, not what we can.  The same way you cannot see someone’s tears inside the rain, a smiling face will hide the eyes of pain.

This touches my heart and mind because it gives us a sense of hope, and brings a sense of accomplishing our dreams as visionaries.  I think everybody has been touched by music in one way or another in their life.  I have never met someone who hated all types of music and didn’t have a passion for at least one genre.