I think what you do is dangerous

It scares me because it’s reckless

It drips from a cultural spew

The fount of find your bliss

You convince people to follow their heart

But you never tell them just how fickle the heart can be

You assume they have even the faintest notion of what they want

You don’t question the wisdom, reality or imperative of their dream

You probably think it’s not your place

Which is precisely the problem

See only stupid arrogant coaches teach addicts how to gamble

Simply because the addict says he wants to gamble

A real coach cares about the deepest desires of the human heart first

I met a young man who wanted to be a teacher

He can barely string a sentence together

Can barely live on his own

But you would tell him to chase his dream

And would charge to coach him

And if he could, he would absolutely pay

Because “you can do it” and “you’re the best” are great things to hear

But while you’re busy living into your dream of being coach of the year

Who helps the young man

Who really helps him

Who says, “Hey, very few of us know exactly what we want”

“It changes from one season to the next”

“But understand that we are living for something bigger”

“There is a bigger kingdom, a kingdom bigger than you and me”

“You is a very fluid concept”

And “you are not the expert of you”

Why teach a false self-focused happiness-above-all-else narrative

You. You are the lasso that is pulling people away from a grand kingdom to the self-indulgent kingdom of “success”

Please stop

People need help and hope

Not what you do

You’re not helping

And you’re own heart feels it

Cause it all still feels really empty

Doesn’t it

I’m so sorry shallow teachers urged you to follow your dream

It’s made you very plastic

Plastic and phony

Plastic and phony and fake

And I’m sad for you

You are very different now

I miss you with substance

Listen, there’s a reason this isn’t working

You are making secondary things primary

So your enjoyment of secondary things is frustrated

See, you, placing all your energy into being the star who helps others become the star

Is terrible misguided

We were never meant to be the star

We’ll wait it out

Like a dragonfly can

In the July heat

By an undrinkable swamp

With clear irritation

Right left this way that

And I’ll sharpen my tongue

On dribbled passes

Between bitter babes

Towards the end

The army fell

Unimpressively so

To the knee

And that bloody trail

Announced a non-response

That we predicted

Truth be told

You neglected

The fire starter

Drum it up

But you can’t

Cause you’re young

Untouchable, yay

But ill equipped

To string

That sentence together

Cause oh

You just don’t know

How dull the moon gets

How worthless

Without the sun

It’s just sad

That you yammer on

In feigned loyalty

How cute

But listen, Lou

It’s quite like

Describing a man

As a perfect piece

While everyone

Sees that he is simply

A fat man walking

Yes, an old man gasping

On a nude beach

In July

In the heat of the day

She spent four days

With paper

And concluded

She’d girl on the street

To the ladies

Peddling glee

So unlikely

So unlikely

And it seemed

As strange then

As it does now

Cause a smile on her face

Is like horns

On a cow

So unlikely

So unlikely

It’s like a great ship

That can never sail

Or leave the harbor

Cause mocking

Little mommies and mouths

Just can’t wait

So unlikely

So unlikely

That butterfly was creepy

Though it made you smile

And the bee was simply lazy

With no will to live

And yes, the adder is sweet

But a bookmark in wait

And I’ll break out in hives

At the horse gate

So, Never mind me

Little lion

Never mind me

I’m no animal kind

Cause my appreciation stops

2-dimensionally

No never mind me

My crime my crime

Was to work

Near the dog

On his back

And to see

He asked me to be his best friend

Said, “I’m sure you are never asked that.”

And he’s wrong

Cause I see from three generations

Of please please please Friend me

And it’s amazing

How much ick

Would be fixed

If the preacher in town

Could be the city clown

Just settle down

And dance and dance

To everyone’s door

Until no one felt lonely anymore

So I said

“It happens more often than you think.”

So he paused, thought and said

“But I really mean it”

A man did very well today

Only one not rushed

Controlled and good, nice

Liked and judged so

He arrived

Talked

Laughed

Did the plan

And left

And felt almost nothing

Which is sunrise

I don’t know how to belong

To coolers on beaches

And basement guitars

Even amens

Though you’d think

They’d console

Can sound

Much like

The click of a gun

In a graveyard

It was not my fault

That I was pitiful

And that you

When you looked at me

Could only see pitiful

Listen, children can’t

Just decide to be well

Just decide to be whole

When skin breaks

And bones bruise

and organs fail

When talent peaks

And ability is simply not there

The child can’t want enough

Even deeply

To be found acceptable

Some children are pitiful

And I know that was me

And I saw the looks

And I saw that some

Really loved the pitiful boy

But that is not all that I was

I was more than scrapes

I was more than rashes

I was more than someone

Who needed dealt with

I, like so many kids

Was desperate for anyone

Who was willing

To contend with me

I want people

To walk past the sign

To love the land

To contend

Everywhere

There is a palace

With a broken piece

But what a shame

Not to enter

 

I hurt

And my skin burns

And I’m not settled

That cup thrown from the car

Tells the whole tale

I wonder what the onlookers thought

Cause it really is a needless thing

To waste a want

To want to waste

And it does say something

There in the speech balloon

So what then

What would two friends

Shopping together

In the grocery aisle say

It would not be satisfying

Cause I’ve judged them

They wouldn’t go deep enough

They’re too nice

Only a twisted doof

About to go postal

Would venture the winning guess

Cause I know that you

Can’t see your own hand

In front of your face

In the dark of the cavern

So how in the world

Could anyone but me

Know why

The window

Was rolled down

In the first place