It used to bother me
that all the nobody bands
that I used to love
used to think were the cat’s PJs
used to believe were really going somewhere someday
never ended up going nowhere nohow
and the bands I thought were immaterial,
irrelevant,
that other people thought were significant and superspecial
ended up going the distance
and becoming stars of superlative substance.

How could I be so wrong
so consistently?
It used to bother me
a lot.

Then I realized
I could do the George
and just reverse expectations
and if I thought the nobody band was blah
then they were a surefire hit machine
while if I really believed in them
they’d never make it after all.

Then I thought about it some more
and I stopped caring about such things.
I stopped drinking
and started watching TV
and really turned a corner.

Some of those bands
will come up on TV
and I remember them faintly
as I sip at a soda
and then turn the channel.