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ready to use
be used and abused in return –
yes just like the Eurythmics sung –
ready to run,
like the Energizer bunny pre-Pandemic before he looked so spun,
finally and without any more ado,
here come the silly boys through the exit postern
looking like idiots and
still trying to have fun.

guess who just got back today!
and they would’ve been back earlier if their plane weren’t delayed
by silly boys and silly men
playing the grown-ups on a downward trend

and the laughter they receive is the attention they seek
because without it they’re doomed to be seen
as prosaic & weak, allegedly,
blowing their vape cloud toward a future that’s bleak
like they’re already willing to die at 16,
living tracks by old idols like Biggie and Mobb Deep
because that’s so super retro, you see,
and you never saw Tupac in any ads for acne cream

when the reality is, that where they live –
the silly boy teenagers, not the celebrities i said –
their bedroom window faces an “Adopt a Street” sign
and there’s a park nearby where doggies convene
and you can pet them practically anytime!

not that there aren’t any cute puppers
on the forty-first side of twelfth street…

sigh –
silly men, silly boys,
already passed their prime

crying over their craft beer flight that there was never enough time
to talk to the girls that made them tingle
any time they had it out at a urinal.
remember Bhavina from Accounting with her painted beans
in open-toed sandal-heels?
she didn’t go for anyone meek
or shorter than six feet
so you spent all your time across the warehouse creeping
imagining she’s some closet freak
when really her opinion on English Lit
is well-researched and, honestly, quite unique

but to you it was all Greek,
and all you could do when it was your turn to speak
was brag how you beat
God of War Ragnarok last week
(or Genshin Impact, whatever it be).
now you’re thirty sitting at the divey bar
hitting on the waitress who sees you from afar,
and when she comes by to see how you’re doing –
since, you know, she’s working –
you give her a pick-up line that ends with you
asking her to go back to her place for some spooning.

silly boys and silly men
saying & doing stupid shit again and again –
until the end of time, apparently,
just like Sarah Brightman sang
and there’s a babe who won’t have to wait
seven more years to eat her Magnum Almond Duet.

//jf 2.25.2023

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