I want to say things
About me and about you
That are beautiful words
But they really aren’t true.
The person I fell for
Was really a total stranger
And I let myself go too far
Into a love full of danger.

I was falling for looks
And the classy way you dress
And didn’t understand
That underneath was a mess.
Your charm was all surface
And your plans were unmade.
You were like the grasshopper
Lazing around in the shade.

Everything you wanted
Was on a short term basis.
You saw someone cute
And you were off to the races.
And I was the cute one
For just that little while.
Falling for the pretty words.
Swept off my feet by a smile.

Then suddenly we were
A couple for many years,
Through disappointments
And way too many tears.
Oh, I don’t blame you.
I was not being truthful.
I was going on the needs
Of the naïve and the youthful.

I think we were afraid to
Just let things fall apart.
Afraid we might be guilty
Of breaking the other’s heart.
But doing that we missed
The life we might have had
If we weren’t so afraid
To make each other mad.

Some of us are older
And we remember a time
When being less than rich
Was not considered a crime
And dealt with Congressionally
By huge measures of stealth
Designed to take away rights
And relieve us of any wealth.

Some of us are older
And owning a home was not
Just a memory, and also
Was not just an empty lot
Where a house once stood
Before the owner got behind
And the bank ignored their pleas
As if they were all blind.

Some of us are older
And remember banks as friends
Who helped us with loans
Where good credit could begin.
We recall the days we could
Send our kids to university
And not saddle them with debt
That condemned them to poverty.

Some of us are older
And we remember the beat cop
Did more toward protection than
Murdering people at traffic stops.
We remember being told as kids
If you are in trouble find a cop
And old enough to have seen
The time that all began to stop.

Some of us are older
And we don’t recall seniors freezing,
Eating dog food alone in flats
And sitting in emergency rooms, wheezing
Because they can’t afford insurance
Because premiums were so high
And the insurance companies
Preferred that they just die.

Some of us are older
And we remember a country here
Where Christianity did not mean
Anti-black, anti-poor and anti-queer.
We remember you had to go
Down south to find hateful Christians
And it living life with dignity
Was not out of the question.

I wrote a poem
And two thousand
Two hundred and
Thirty one people
Read it.
That right there is poetic.
It may not be politic
To brag, but I’m waving the flag
My own flag
Because it’s not a gag.
It’s real.
And it makes me feel
Like I am doing something
Right;
Like I am winning the fight
Against those who scoff
And cough and make fun.
I feel like I have won.

Life is good, fighting the good fight.
A bunch of beers with the boys, and
Standing up for what is truly right.
It’s what we do on Saturday night.
Kicking the **** out of blacks,
Jews, Mexicans, Asians and ****
And any not quite right whites,
Chanting three letters, waving flags.

It’s the American way.
No matter what liberals say,
It’s the only true way,
Be a conservative today!
Make a public stand
Show them where you live.
Hate anybody who is not
A red-blooded conservative!

The ***** liberals are coming
To take our jobs and weapons.
But, we are not going to let them.
They must think we’re all women.
We are real men, good and true
And we know what we have to do.
We believe in the red white and blue
And the sissified can all just go *****.

It’s the American way.
No matter what liberals say,
It’s the only true way,
Be a conservative today!
Make a public stand
Show them where you live.
Hate anybody who is not
A red-blooded conservative!

We believe in God, and Jesus Christ
And anyone who does not isn’t nice.
If this describes you, take some advice
Go live somewhere else and eat rice.
Because this is a God-fearing land
And if you can’t quite understand
Or you have something else planned
You will feel the back of our hand.

It’s the American way.
No matter what liberals say,
It’s the only true way,
Be a conservative today!
Make a public stand
Show them where you live.
Hate anybody who is not
A red-blooded conservative!

Loving another man is not that easy.
So much depends on who you choose.
If a guy feels he really doesn’t need you
You find you’re on a rocky path to lose.
If he’s a man with some excuses
That let him run away and hide
You’ll find out the many uses
He can think up to play outside.

Words like ‘straight acting’ and ‘manly’
Might be what your guy is all about?
He might be into surface acceptance.
You owe it to yourself to find out.
Or maybe he doesn’t even really believe
That sleeping with men makes him gay.
The only person that gets really hurt here
Is he who hopes he wakes up someday.

There must be something behind it all.
So many people go by a guy’s looks.
Just look for the cutest one and you
Will wind up in the history books.
You will have become notorious for
Being the biggest patsy of them all.
The cuter the guy, the higher you go
And the further you will have to fall.

In years to come the jokes will tire
And the first love thing will fade away.
You’ll need something more than looks
To even listen to the words he’ll say.
People will understand why you chose
To be with him when it all starts out.
But, after first glimpses have gone away
They will wonder what it was all about.

What does he believe in, what gods?
What does he want in life, what dreams?
You may not care about the envy of friends
If all you can manage to do is to scream.
It is totally possible to go to bed with a ten
And wake up with a six or maybe a seven.
If superficiality and meaningless ***
Works for you, it may think it is heaven.

The facts are there, if thought is given,
The truth is what must always be there.
If you live a lie or help someone else to
You’ll probably end up in a life of despair.
Your friends will feel sorry, but really what
Can they do to help you in your condition?
In order for someone like him to hurt you,
You had to have given him permission.

They badgered me, berated me.
They beat me and they hated me.
They seemed to want me to die
Too soon, then, so did I.

I was different, and that was the reason.
Too many saw that as a form of treason.

I had to adhere to the boundaries
That were set for us artificially
They had no reference to reality;
More to some kind of elite tyranny.

And, I still find it horribly strange
That very little has changed.
The rules are still very much
Incredibly socially out of touch.

Strive to be elite or be beaten
And ultimately, almost literally eaten
By the swarm of mindless fools
That go on defending the rules  

That allow children to be thugs
And, come to school to sell drugs;
That let the criminals escape
And, turn a blind eye to ****
And abuse and battering
But keep the ******* clattering
At PTA, school board and council meetings  
More concerned with politics
Than the real-time subjects
Such as kids afraid of attending
Because the battlefield is never ending.

You are angry that I didn’t tell you
That I told everybody else I knew
You said such horrible things about gays
So we have to go our separate ways.
You will go back to your church teas
And, I will go out with whomever I please.

I may end up working the streets
Or living with some stranger I meet
Because living your rules is as hard
As you’re not accepting the will of god;
Because this is who he made me.
So who has the right to degrade me?

While you gripe about me hiding from you
Examine all the hateful things you do
And the awful things you say every day
About my friends, and me who are gay.
Did you never consider from day one
That you might be talking about your son?