Résumain’t

I was the little kid
in class
who never paid
attention,
whose daydreams were
his slide and swings,
his playground of
invention;

I was the chunky
awkward boy
whose skin would
never fit,
fumbling through
a formless fear
he never could
admit;

I was the dude
in high school,
when house parties
broke off pairs,
wrapped his arm
around the keg
and woke up
on the stairs;

I’m the guy
who cannot give
a single reason
he
waits for
something great
to come
from mediocrity;

I will be the old man who,
decaying
in a wal-mart vest,
smiles as you
hurry past,
inconsequential
as his
best.