Bruce Springsteen chortles.
Joseph Heller sounded like some borscht belt immigrant.
Truman Capote spoke in that faggy dog-pitched voice.
Heroes don’t always sound the way you want.

You won’t always sound the way you want
or act the way you want
or be.
When the push hits the shove
and you have to do or die,
you may die
and though cowardice may not be
the thing that actually kills you,
it might as well.

These may not be the thoughts
you meant to find
in this particular work
but what you expect
and what you receive
need have no association with each other.
The movie you wanted was sold out;
this is what was left.
This
is what you get.