jonberger

No one thinks they are the bad one
but there are outliers to rules.
To this, I’ll be the exception.
For other rules, I’ll break with tools.
To some I may seem truly cruel,
while others think of me as kind.
It’s just that I suffer no fools
while some I meet have half a mind.

Change, they say, comes from within.
This is most true around gastrointestinal distress,
where the change comes from deep within
and then is often expressed without
loudly.

I find the cause of this change from within
is sometime from some issue without,
like chili cheese hot dogs
or bean burritos
of possibly too much Moose Tracks ice cream.
Maybe Indian.
You get the idea, I’m sure.

The point is,
change can have many a cause
but some things can cause many changes.

Once again, massaging artistic muscles
brings me back to master my rispetto drill.
Rhythm with the syllables solves some puzzles
Just repeat the process; I may learn the skill.
Getting better every week, I could seek
excellence that would acquiesce me to peak
and become the owner of rispetto gold
before I come to be especially old.

The first kiss was a threat
in one of those games that children play.
The child was eighteen, which is later, perhaps,
than expected.
The game was Truth or Dare.
The situation was embarrassing.

How did I get so far in life
while experiencing so little?
But I had not gotten far.
I was at college,
but still sheltered.
I lived alone.
I worked at jobs I had not yet earned.

Even the situation was not one of my doing.
She was dared to kiss me
and she bravely took the horrifying dare
tongue waggling dangerously
moving through my mouth in ways I knew nothing about.
I was a new fish who understood little
about her extremity swimming in my waters.

I blushed and played the experience off,
but probably fooled nobody.
I had been seen with no one on campus all year,
bemoaned being lonely.
I think my innocence was well-identified.

It was maintained for many months afterwards,
and I didn’t kiss anyone else until the next school year,
when I began to learn other skills
that would prove additionally useful.

A breathing vibrant creature
has been condensed and conformed
into a cyborg,
an association of wires and thoughts
connected to a laptop
spinning stories to serve to the web
that will present a like or two
every week or so.

It is a wired transformation
that nobody asked for,
nobody approved.

It may be reversed
at any time.
It is not too late
yet.

I followed her to Latin class
since she said that’s where she was going after Spanish.
I had a language requirement to fulfill
after taking Spanish 5-6.
I don’t know why she took Latin.
I was glad to have a place to follow her, though.
She was bright and bubbly.
I wanted to see her anywhere I could.

She was a year ahead of me.
I was lucky that I had been able to have had two classes with her already.
To be able to orchestrate scheduling Latin was quite a coup.
There was only one Latin 1 each semester,
so we were bound to be in the same course
and I could see her for the whole term.

Sophomore year was going to be great
and I would never be lonely again.

The triangle before me tells me to yield
but I find that sign to be too womanly
and the handlebar moustache above my lip
proves that I am far too masculine a sort
to take such a command lying down.

No, I shall not yield,
just on a sign’s word,
however nice its coloring may be.
I shall go forward, brave as a turk,
sallying forth into the stark new day,
taking whatever ground needs be taken,
faithfully, carefully!
But yielding only to the greater force
with the greater arms
when they tell me to.

Look forward, future, say what you hold.
Will there be fond memories of glorious days
or horrifying shame for what we’ve let pass?
Will there be an epic silence awaiting you,
still and sweet, after such cacophony today?

Tell me future, what will you say?

Allow her to introduce herself:
she is the one who will not leave you.
Curse her. Use the grimoire from the shelf;
There is nothing you can try to do
to keep her from haunting what is home,
the place from which she can never roam.

She chose to stay with you forever;
a vow she can’t now break whenever
she might decide to change opinion
and just decide to travel on whim.
She can’t leave; as the house’s minion,
she’ll stay forever with prospects dim.

If I ever get out of this place, there’s gonna be some changes when I get back home.
If I ever get out of this place, I’m gonna finish reading the MASH novels.
If I ever get out of this place, I’m gonna look a damned sight different than this,
I can tell you that much for free.

If I ever get out of this place, I’ll have lost that fifteen pounds, gained that hair,
and made you laugh at least once first.
If I ever get out of this place, the sheriff’s gonna kiss my ass!

If I ever get out of this place, I’m gonna go out to the corner
and buy me one of them Frank’s hot and juicy red hots,
and I’m gonna swallow it whole.

If I ever get out of this place, I’m gonna thank the gods I’ve got,
make some new ones I don’t know, pay the tributes that I ought,
and get to work on my list of enemies.

If I ever get out of this place, I will thank my lucky stars,
and keep running away from the place
as fast and as far as I can with all due haste.