Saturday, April 19, 2025

poem

 We Real Cool

Everyone is cool is various ways

In all the ways I wish I were.

The one cool thing I do has already

Been done a thousand times

By people you would never think 

Are actually cool, like Bronk.

I wanted to be cool in all the ways

And that was the source of my frustration. 

I wanted all the funny lines 

And for all the girls to think

That every poem was only about them.

What’s the word for someone like that?

In reality all I want is for you 

To pull up a chair and chat

Until the sun forgets to rise.

By the time we’re sharing a plate

Of microwaved pancakes

With fake butter and sugar free syrup

I’m reading koans from the Gateless Gate 

And as happy as I’d ever hoped to be 

Which isn’t saying much

But your ramshackle laugh is enough

To let me let go

Of the book 

And hold your hand 

And lead you down the hall

To a stone bed

Where loneliness persists

As a work of performance art

We both find incredibly cool


4/19/25

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