Please enjoy the poem, and feel free to leave a comment.

“Boy”

           ~thank you, Jamaica*

Grab a chain out back of the old Ford; go down to Frost Bridge and help Curt pull his truck out of the gully; make sure you attach the chain right; don’t pull too hard, you might damage the axle; try to be quick; remember to take your sister to youth group; make sure you pick up a couple twelve-packs, your mom is throwing another party; never climb a tree with your gun loaded; never take shit from anybody; if it’s fight or walk away, you fight; always respect your elders even when they’re in the wrong; never associate with fags, like the sissy you are bent on becoming; don’t get a car, trucks are more useful; don’t let your mother find your magazines, you don’t want her to know the truth to why you always lock the door; when pink is the only color, find another; go to the garage and help bring in groceries; wear a condom though it takes a little time; is it true that your lotion is next to the fruit basket?; don’t forget to take out the trash, the paper said the garbage pick-up date has changed, don’t forget; never use nails for sheetrock; never use yellow PVC on toilets, that pipe is for hot water, not cold; don’t leave your lotion on the kitchen counter; this is how you work like a man; this is how you sweat, unlike the sissy you are bent on becoming; this is how you lift weights; this is how you talk dirty; this is how you never bait a hook; this is how you look like a gentleman; but that isn’t my lotion; why would I put it next to the fruit basket?; this is how you tough it up; this is how you laugh at dirty jokes; this is how you take a dip, always keeping a spit-cup wherever you go; this is how you demand more than your share, because the world will screw you in the end, you have to keep ahead; open the door for Ms. Edna; try and be home before twelve; pen-up Jake before the neighbors shoot him, he keeps getting in the trash; this is how you catch a football; this is how you make a trail; this is how you make a trail when you don’t have a machete; this is how you make a trail when you don’t need to make a trail at all; this is how you throw a baseball; this is how you fall in love; this is who you love; this is how you fall out of love; this is how you grease a motor; this is how you take a risk; this is how you appear hard, when everyone’s against you; this is how you fail; this is how you fail and never cry; this is how you fail and get up again; this is how you call a duck; this is how to skin a buck; this is how you aim correctly as not to spook the turkey; this is how you play guitar; this is how to run a bar; this is how you change oil because quick lubes over-charge; experience is the best way to pass mechanic school; but what if I don’t want to be a mechanic, but a violinist? You mean to say after all, boy, you want to be the sissy I’ve tried so hard to keep you from becoming?

*inspired by Jamaica Kincaid’s short story “Girl”

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