Utility's Song

Anything can be useful

Depending on what you want to do with your life.

Please don't tell Phoebe this and that won't be useful for her to learn

Before you've even asked her what she hopes to do with her life.

Even after you've heard what she wants to do,

Her plans may change, and after all,

It is Phoebe herself, who will need to work on

Making good use of what she's learned.

No one , not even herself, can tell her in advance

What will be useful, and what not.

It is entirely up to her, in the moment.  Phoebe, go hide in the utility closet

While people who don't understand say this and that

And make useless assumptions about you.

They ought to be ashamed.

So Much for Innocence

As a boy, I loved fat girls.  Without even realizing I loved them.

What I also did not exactly realize, or care to know, was the fact

That some people may consider those girls fat.

I didn't.  Being fat was too abstract and relative an idea for me.

Instead, I thought to myself, fondly, that they reminded me of

Animals.  Mothering mammals, like cows and pigs.

Which was very mean.  But I meant no harm, although

I know, and I also knew back then, that there was no way

I could be excused.  But as much as I ought not be excused,

weren't we all, all of us, victims of certain preconceptions?

That humans are completely different from, and superior to,

animals--above all, to cows and sows.

That fat girls easily become objects of ridicule.

In reality, I was laughing and smiling because I loved them,

But no one, including I myself, would ever forgive me.

To this day, I deserve no forgiveness.

And yet, I would like to ask: Are cows and sows so terrible?

I am terrible, but cows and sows and fat girls are not terrible.

Not Even a Poem

Today, I will be literal and say:

One needs to be persistent.  In life.

Two Golden Phrases

"You do not understand what I am going through" and

"You do not know me" are, to me,

Two golden phrases.

They are totally different from "No one

understands what I am going through" and "No one

knows me," which amount to little more than

Childish exaggeration.

The magic is in the address--"you."

You may not know me, you may not understand,

But at least, in this fleeting moment,

You are there for me, you truly are.  Thank

You, in a whisper.