booksartyoume

'before i was cool' timothy r gates, 9/27/2008

before i was cool
i wasn't cool
i'm not cool
kids and adolescents think
i am
my kids friends do too
neither wives thought so
(why, then?)
professional artists, usually, don't
others do
others don't
let me see, i grew up:
playing my Martin Guitar
King IIb silver bell Trombone
(benefit of deals parents
made with god, when born three months early,
died twice, again six months later. lived. ha.)
writing
painting
played sports because boys did this
collected sports cards because they did this too
loved jesus from fours years
he turned his back when daddy hit me
(lethargic voyeur? might account for being nonverbal, then?
ya think?)
god, daddy, mommy
all my heroes
all played the game:
see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.
So what?
That's that.
Next.
(obvious, no matter how many times i've said this,
i find myself needing to close the door, again.)
still talk to all three of the above mentioned,
myths and legends
perhaps
are our stories told the way that we'd like them to
be.
cool is cool
love my dance
love their dance
love that my story is not mine alone
(i've found that most cool people from my adolescent stroll,
their stories were covered by what i thought was cool)
cool,
damned if you do; damned if you don't.
-i think that i think that everyone's cool
except for a serial killer, maybe
i don't think that i've known one?