Don't Buy the Hype

Remove the words from this sentence

and you'll uncover an ego the size of a pea

wearing the disguise of a Texas ranger.

Dig deeper,

burrow through the suffocating desert of rhyme and logic,

undo barbeque chicken smoke and curly fries,

slip past the beer soggen falls

and under the red clay chatter you will find me

--windchimes of unnoticed song,

hovering gulls of forgotten sky,

the quiet memory of a small playground

you never got to discover.

The little workbook you've followed this way

reminds the reader to pile the dirt on the side,

to be mindful that it does not slide down,

enter your throat or clog your vision,

lest you find this path a graveyard for your valiant efforts

of unwrapping the heart of that human girl.

Remove the aviator sunglasses from this face

and you'll find eyes that want to suck you in

and spit you back out at the next person like bullets,

cartoon lashes that beg for affection

and irises that desire the freedom of flight.

Push past the leather jacket armor and the denim barricade

and brush the sleep away from that overtired, under-whelmed face.

Tell those lips you've got a story to tell this time,

that it's an original-- a word-of-mouth-piece you're trying to restart,

about a girl in a room wearing a shirt

that says in bold green letters,

"I'd rather be writing/saving the world/wearing my superhero costume."

You're trained to believe that you are important.

Remove the you from that lesson

...and you have a grammatically incomplete sentence.

Your bowels are frightened,

your lungs are gumming up,

your hands are forgetting how to push your body from the bed

--and yet you've convinced yourself that you are planning an escape.

If you want to leave,

forget that you've heard this story or that song a million times before

and instead seek out new, stranger ones.

Get out of bed with a jump

and eat breakfast with the fervor of the hunt.

Sweep away the fluffed up pillows.

Stop watching your back when you walk down the street.

Quit defending the territory you haven't earned.

Remember that this life is not about safety.

Your id wants to always be coddled

but your superego wants fame

and no place is safe when you're famous.

Originally performed on 6/29/11

Originally written on 6/30/2011