Haircut

Hair falls to the floor,

The clippers buzz past your ear

Summer’s not far off.

Pride

Much has been said about when two members of the same gender

Share the same bed.

I can picture you now clutching your pearls,

Ready to hurl.

But the issue isn’t me.

See, when two dudes screw, you say eww.

Oh, boo hoo.

Oh no, booboo.

You don’t get to dictate who I date

Based on your supposedly Biblically-mandated hate.

Not when you pick and choose which verses to hurl at me like curses,

While ignoring the ones that would be inconvenient for you to follow—

Like working on the Sabbath; eating pork, lobster, and other shellfish; or wearing clothes of blended fabrics.

I doubt these are habits you’d kick and that makes your castigation hollow.

Don’t get it twisted.

Because I take another brother as my lover

Doesn’t diminish the spark of divinity in me.

I am not of the Enemy or less than because I love men.

I am not a traitor to my race or a waste of space for loving who I do.

So do not “pray” or weep for me.

A lion does not lose sleep over the baas of sheep;

I will not let you shake my equanimity.

For if God can bring light to those lost in the eternal night,

Restore sight to the blind, and breathe life into the dead,

Then if I eat the bread of life,

It shouldn’t matter to Him who I take to bed.          

Listen

Every day, people go on a mission to be offended by what they’ve heard

Because they did not listen.

What the heck with things like context;

As soon the warning goes out on social media,

The dog-piling begins.

Have we become so thin-skinned that a comment we don’t like

Warrants death threats and ending a person’s professional life?

Whatever happened to let’s agree to disagree?

Whatever happened to civility?

Why do we assume the worst and presume guilt before all the evidence in.

Because we hear but do not listen,

And every day our division grows;

We split into smaller and smaller factions in reaction to people’s speech and actions.

But I suppose that’s okay,

If you avoid anything verboten.

Foreboding or not, you decide. But soon there will be a lot we can’t we do or say,

And we’ll spend all day hiding away,

Afraid our words and actions could be misconstrued as offensive.

Because even the smallest slight will earn our hides a tanning.

I’m not stanning the banning of political correctness,

Just a less zealous reaction to things with which we disagree,

To listen to each other’s words and not just hear what we fear.

Tattoos

The needle breaks skin; 

The agony and ecstasy as the outline begins. 

The pain is temporary, but the design will always remind you  

Of all the shit you’ve been through. 

Each tattoo, old or new, is a totem, 

 A mark from your heart 

 That expresses your divine spark. 

Whether black and grey, technicolor; or red, white, and blue;  

Traditional, color realism, or new school,  

All tattoos are cool.  

Just make sure you don’t get kanji thinking they mean strong  

But instead they mean prostitute.  

And that they are grammatically correct,  

Lest people forever question your intellect.   

Scars

We all have them, be they physical, psychological, emotional, or spiritual.

From all the stupid things we did as a kid, both unintentional and

Self-inflicted from trying to repeat the actions depicted on TV,

To the wounds from our first serious break up,

Our scars make up the core of our character

And are boons that shouldn’t be hid away.

Every day we get new scars from the demons we must slay,

But I’m here to say we needn’t shy away or hide.

Instead, we should wear our scars with pride.

Why?

Because they are a reminder that we’re still alive,

That we survived,

That life has thrown a bus at us,

 But they roar loud and clear,

“We’re still standing.”

 We have nothing to fear because

We’ve faced death and we’re still here.

This poem is meant as a lyrical miracle,

A salve to solve your tears.

We need not heed our nightmares

Because our scars are our trusty steed

And will see us through the darkest night.

All we need do is remember our scars are near

 And we will find our inner light.      

Screens

Social media, the internet, and technology are great,

But now we live our lives in a world of screens;

Big ones, small one, even ones we wear.

But in this interconnected world have we forgotten how to care about anything but our screens?

It’s gotten quite obscene the way we no longer interact with each other.

The beauty of the world around us goes unseen,

While we like, retweet, and react to the latest meme

or demean the latest target of the cyber gestapo for daring to go against the established flow.

We’ve become so addicted to our screens we’ve become afflicted with maladies such as text thumb and neck.

Heck, it’s even affecting the way we sex,

From sexting to Netflix and chill.

Our society is ill,

And the only remedy is to put down our devices

And treat them like the vices they’ve become

Before we all go blind, deaf, and dumb,

Numb to everything but our screens.

Instead of looking something up, use your memory.

And if you want to communicate with people then don’t hesitate.

Call them or even better,

Write them a letter.

Stop swiping right, go out and enjoy a night on the town,

Before all the clubs shut down.

As for me,

I’ve had my fill of screens

And will do more to enjoy the analog world.

If you know what I mean,

Then put down your screens.

Ya feel me, dog?

Boxes

Check here for White,

Here, here, here, and here for

Black, Asian, Latino, and Native American.

Check here, here, here, here, and here for:

Male, female, trans, nonbinary, and agender.

Mark this box if you’re into your same gender,

This one if you’re into both,

This one for nether, this one if you’re into all genders,

And this one if you’re straight.

Check this box if you’re a liberal,

Here if you’re a progressive,

And here if you’re a democrat.

Here if you’re a republican,

Check here if you’re a conservative,

Here if you swing libertarian,

And here if you’re an independent.

We’ve become locked in these boxes,

Assigning roles to ourselves and others based on nothing more than the identities we’re born with or later choose.

I don’t mean to disrespect anyone or to confuse.

Having a place and community you feel safe in is great. But there’s no need to verbally bludgeon and abuse those we disagree with.

We’re so quick to demonize the other.

Have we forgotten what our mothers taught us:

Do onto others as you would have them do onto you.

We’re so much more than the boxes we’ve checked,

So, stow the hate and identity politics insanity

Before we’ve wrecked the one thing we’re all trying to protect:

Humanity.    

Love Thyself

Two-fifty, two hundred, two-fifty again.

I’ve struggled with my weight most of my adult life.

Either I’m stuffing my face with everything in the place, or I’m working out all day every day, trying to get thin.

But I know now I must love the skin that I’m in. Whatever that is.

I love my belly, regardless if it’s stretch-marked with rolls like Buddha, or a compact baby six pack.

 I love my thighs, whether they be wondrous or of the thunderous variety.

I love my calves, be they dandelion-thin or bulky like watermelons; my arms, be they string beans or Christmas hams; and my chest in all its asymmetric mess.

I love my glutes, whether they be nonexistent or all that and then some.

I love my hair, be it curly, kinky, wavy, straight, blonde, red, or black.

I love my too-big-for-my-frame feet, my bowed legs, and my trick knee.

I now see it matters not how much I lift or how many miles I run, so long as I persist to be cool with myself, free to be me in all my beautiful glory.

So, if you feel seen and know what I mean, then repeat after me:

I love myself.

Snow Day

Children laugh and play,

Throwing snowballs and sledding.

—When did we stop this?

Older

Hair thinning, graying,

Pot-bellied, knees arthritic,

Man, I’m getting old.