Look
if you won’t do it
then I may just have to take a stab.
If you can’t get off your ass
and get to work on your life story,
I think I’ll write it.

If you squint hard enough
can’t you just see me
in your small hometown
learning to crawl
when your father said
you’d never be able to fly?
Just think of those tortured early days
I might have lived
in your shoes.

Or how I came to New York
fresh from my scrapple past
hungry for attention
and all the arts and drugs
the city could offer.
Think back of the landscapes you’ve painted
of your earlier adventures
and then place me in the foreground.
There are innumerable stories I could tell
because I’ve heard yours so often,
so well.

Your history
is mine for the taking
if you won’t start to chronicle it.
Unless you copywrite your life
I see no reason
why I shouldn’t write it out.