There is an ancient piece in my catalog
that early adopters
of the Jon Berger Mission
used to call out for
before it made everyone feel too skeevy
(and anyway, I don’t much repeat material
so it became something of a moo point).

Thing is, back then,
when they were out there,
calling out like cows for that early material,
they’d invariably get the name wrong.
They’d be in the right ballpark
get the right point across
have the right rhythm
but simply utter incorrect words.

So I ask you:
were these fans trying to kill me
with their intentional indifference?
Were they making a point to cut to my heart
with their active point of telling me,
“I like you enough to remember
there’s something about you that’s cool
– but not enough to care what it is.”?

That’s what it sounded like.

Again, everyone was always in the right vicinity
of the title,
but could never stick the landing.
They just couldn’t match my brilliance.
Or maybe I sparked some creativity in each of them
so they wanted to try out their own phrasing.
Or perhaps they found better ways
to say the same thing.

Oh, I don’t like where this is going.

Anyway, I don’t do that poem anymore
so it’s not an issue
so we can just drop it, all right?
All right!