MW

The last time I saw you when you were still a girl, we played in the waves together on the beach. I remember you futzing with your one-piece bathing suit a lot while I pushed you on the float; but your laughter was sometimes free and you weren't so goddamn tall. Ever since then when I've seen you, you've been doing all you can to be a young woman. I admire your efforts, but you seem very distant and unreachable. I hope, when you're done growing up, we'll still be friends.

Jr

I'm a superman in the making
now I won't be forsaking you.
I'll wear my helmet when I'm raking
but I won't be taking my life for you.

I hate to tell this to you
but I think you'd know that it's true
if you'd just stop quaking in fear.
I hope you wish I was here
I know I wish I was here.
I hope you know I love you
but that I sure ain't through with you.

I got my shoes on
no thanks to you all.
I haven't lost any friends
and no one needs to get the bends
over some stupid shit
that shouldn't make your blood boil
or spoil a summer of toil in the soil.

Obviously
bureaucracy is not for me,
but I assure thee
that politics is my new specialty.
So don't think you're getting off free,
you'll be hearing from me.

for my uncle, who knows

The wise man grows younger as he grows older until he is again as he was. A great return he has chosen, and new openness to a world he has certainly known but which he no longer knows. He dodges blind rigidity and its associated woes by recovering his mind's flexibility.

"I'm not sure of anything," he says, and relearns- drawing not exclusively from his head, but frequently from the changing natural world instead. A good way not to die before he's dead.

Hungry?

The sickly spores of boredom in the brain are bleating-
drawing ever nearer the hour of unnecessary feeding.
Feel the urge surge within; purge the scourge that is thankfully fleeting.
Courage cures, and causes the sublimation of recreational eating.
Run off the unwelcome sensation: distraction is deflection.
What small satisfaction is gained from a common confection?

I have something
I've been wanting
to give you,

An intimacy
commonly
shared by two;

I was gonna stop by
as I was driving
through,

Join our lips,
brush our hips
and then shoo.

I'm tellin you bro

You gotta go slow.

You gotta know fo sho
you've got the flow
and you ain't no ho.

You gotta relax.

You gotta pay the tax
before you play the sax
or swing the ax.

It's gonna be wild.

But the consequence
is a lot more mild
without a child.

sun showers all day:
God smiling on my way,
would that I could stay.

a new one

Hopefully ethnocentricity
is sorta like outdated,
along with monochromicity.
But I see you alone, missy,
as the finest ethnicity.

Saftey

First Year, put on all your PPE and repeat after me:

Safety is very important.
Safety is a priority.
Safety is number-one priority.
I love safety.
I love feeling safe.
I feel safe right now,
and I've never felt better in my life.

Mother

Mother,
this is from me and my brother,
your son and your other son
wishing you a happy day
in this way
right away.
We may be in New Orleans still
but soon we'll be standing on your door sill
asking for so much that you want to kill us.

Hope it's been a good four months
just you and Bill in our great big house.
Enjoy it while it lasts
cause who knows when you'll long for the past:
I don't want to be crass but I am the shit
and you'll want me around if you are with it.
Of course your fault it is,
raising us on healthy alternatives.

So thank you Mom
cause my life's a song
and it will be long
and I love you strong.