tender as a mother's love in poetry

you’re
not funny no one thinks you’re
funny but you
I
shouldn’t have told you
that you
were special when you
were young because now you
are a loser and you
don’t think you
need to ever work
give up

you’re
not funny
no one thinks you’re
funny but you
you
should go to graduate school you
should waste two or three more years of your
dwindling semi-youth and you
should accrue eighty grand more in debt so you
can go into the worst job market for academics in the history of academia
give up

you’re
not insightful
no one cares what you
have to say but you
you
should go back to community college despite the fact that you
have a four year degree you
haven’t even paid off yet you
should really just go back and take some random classes you
should sit around with teenagers looking like a pervert you
should just kill a couple of years in your middle thirties putting your
development as a writer and performer on hold so you
can look like you’re
doing something and you
can go another ten or twenty grand into debt doing that too
give up

you’re
a loser
you’re
a failure
this is probably my
fault for ever telling you
that you
weren’t
you
should go get a minimum wage job as a janitor at the casino you
should drive an hour each way and you
should spend more money than you
would take home after taxes on gas and tolls you
would prove to me
me
me
me
that you
were trying if you
sacrificed years of your
life like that
give up

I
don’t love you
I
love the idea of my
son but you
if I
saw you
on the street I’d
whisper behind your
back that you
were insane or on meth and you
would be lucky if I
didn’t spit behind you
as you
walked on
give up

you’re
not funny
no one thinks you’re
funny there’s nothing anyone can do for money with it even if you
were funny
but you’re
not
give up

but I’m
your
son and I
inherited from you
an inability to give up
I
don’t give up just like you
lack the ability to give up and I
thank you
for that
at least

Last updated March 30, 2016