I keep your ring because it’s a fantastic memory
but what's a memory good for
if you’re never coming back
It’s a mantra
Too many young people not living long enough
She says
It’s true
She tells me about how a boy
Was found dead in his car the day before
at a community college she goes to
She knows life is fragile
She feels it in the ache in her knees when it’s cold
Her eyes are painful
In their beauty
And understanding
Of the things our stupid bodies do
Our bodies are stupid
Insanely stupid
Cancer is the body attacking itself
And so often we can be cancer for ourselves
In the same way we love our livers
Just to feel numb for a while
Because I’d have never spoken to you
If I still wasn’t a little drunk the day we met
On dance floors
In bars
At house parties
We need something to give us an excuse to **** up
So we can blame it on the cancer
The kind that breaks the ice
This is me breaking the ice
This is me letting things go
This is me doing everything I can
To live for a living
I do a lot of stupid things
Just so I can tell a good story later
and in the end
Even if we get in our seventy
Punch out perfectly
It will not have been long enough
Just ask David
Who knows he will never naturally feel as good
As the coke
And the adrenaline pump of near death experiences
Tells me
About happiest day of his life
Was when his father for the first time
Taught him how to tie a fishing knot
Tells me his father’s hands were the kind of comfortably rough
That only certain men can earn
Rough from the labor
But soft enough never to hurt
Anybody
He regrets not being able to be that man
Don’t let a day go by that doesn’t remind you
That you are made from the same things stars are made of
That at any given moment
You can shine just as brightly
And please **** up
Shameless
Excuseless
**** up for the love
For the smiles
No one ever thought badly of someone who tried and failed
Trying is the bravest thing any one person has ever done
I dare you to try
Try to find something to live for
And live for it
And in the end
I’ll grab her crippled hand
Worn from the life that
Broke them down perfectly
Worn from the years of sign language
And the holding of heads
If we are going to be cancer to ourselves
Let the break down mean something
Break yourself down to make things better
She knows this
Has shown me this
Now I have something to live for
I live for the poetry
And the laughter I cause when I am an idiot
I try so hard to be an idiot
Work my body rough for the laughter
In fact
I live for it
Apr 13, 2012
Apr 13, 2012 at 2:14 PM UTC
I keep your ring because it’s a fantastic memory
but what's a memory good for
if you’re never coming back
It’s a mantra
Too many young people not living long enough
She says
It’s true
She tells me about how a boy
Was found dead in his car the day before
at a community college she goes to
She knows life is fragile
She feels it in the ache in her knees when it’s cold
Her eyes are painful
In their beauty
And understanding
Of the things our stupid bodies do
Our bodies are stupid
Insanely stupid
Cancer is the body attacking itself
And so often we can be cancer for ourselves
In the same way we love our livers
Just to feel numb for a while
Because I’d have never spoken to you
If I still wasn’t a little drunk the day we met
On dance floors
In bars
At house parties
We need something to give us an excuse to **** up
So we can blame it on the cancer
The kind that breaks the ice
This is me breaking the ice
This is me letting things go
This is me doing everything I can
To live for a living
I do a lot of stupid things
Just so I can tell a good story later
and in the end
Even if we get in our seventy
Punch out perfectly
It will not have been long enough
Just ask David
Who knows he will never naturally feel as good
As the coke
And the adrenaline pump of near death experiences
Tells me
About happiest day of his life
Was when his father for the first time
Taught him how to tie a fishing knot
Tells me his father’s hands were the kind of comfortably rough
That only certain men can earn
Rough from the labor
But soft enough never to hurt
Anybody
He regrets not being able to be that man
Don’t let a day go by that doesn’t remind you
That you are made from the same things stars are made of
That at any given moment
You can shine just as brightly
And please **** up
Shameless
Excuseless
**** up for the love
For the smiles
No one ever thought badly of someone who tried and failed
Trying is the bravest thing any one person has ever done
I dare you to try
Try to find something to live for
And live for it
And in the end
I’ll grab her crippled hand
Worn from the life that
Broke them down perfectly
Worn from the years of sign language
And the holding of heads
If we are going to be cancer to ourselves
Let the break down mean something
Break yourself down to make things better
She knows this
Has shown me this
Now I have something to live for
I live for the poetry
And the laughter I cause when I am an idiot
I try so hard to be an idiot
Work my body rough for the laughter
In fact
I live for it
The first three lines, the fifth line, the twelfth line, and line sixty-nine were donated by the awesome Nicole (lady) Adams.
Request permission to use this poem