I AM A GOOD BOY

THIS POEM IS ORIGINALLY WRITTEN BY OSOANON NIMUSS, KNOWN AS 'ABSOLUTELY NOTHING '. I CHANGED IT A LITTLE.

Once on a yellow piece of paper with green lines I wrote a poem And I called it 'Chops' because that was the name of my dog And that's what it was all about And my teacher gave me an A and a gold star And my Father tucked me in bed that night And my mother hung it on the kitchen door and read it to my aunts, because I was a good boy

That was the year my Father took all of us to the zoo And he let us sing on the bus And my little sister was born with tiny toenails and no hair And my mother and father kissed a lot And the girl around the corner sent me a Letter signed with a row of X's, but I stayed a good boy

Once on a piece of white paper with blue lines I wrote a poem And I called it 'Autumn' because that was the name of the season And that's what it was all about And my teacher gave me an A and asked me to write more clearly And my mother never hung it on the kitchen door because of its new paint, but I tried to stay a good boy

And my Father smoked cigars And left butts on the pews And sometimes they would burn holes That was the year my sister got glasses with thick lenses and black frames And the girl around the corner laughed when I asked her to go see Santa Claus And the neighbors told me why my mother and father kissed a lot And my father never tucked me in bed at night And my father got mad when I cried for him to do it, and I dreamt of being a good boy

Once on a paper, torn from my notebook I wrote a poem And I called it 'Innocence: A Question' because that was the question about me And that's what it was all about And my professor gave me an A and a strange steady look And my mother never hung it on the kitchen door because I never showed her and because now I doubted if I was a good boy

That was the year my Father died And I forgot how the end of the Apostle's Creed went And my mother and father never kissed or even talked after that And I caught my sister making out on the back porch And the girl around the corner wore too much makeup That made me cough when I kissed her but I kissed her anyway because that was the thing to do And at 3 am I tucked myself into bed, but I tried to stay a good boy

That's why on the back of a brown paper bag I tried another poem And I called it 'My Destination' Because that's what it was really all about And I gave myself an F and a slash on each damned wrist And I hung it on the bathroom door because this time I didn't think I could reach the kitchen, just because I was not a good boy.