Overthunk

You polished it, the wit, to wit You slid it again and again along every sharpening stone (criticism, disdain, judgement, unkind remarks) Virtually anything that could penetrate the marshmallow heart and poison the hot blood Could serve to make the born-blunt edge thinner, the better to slice you with You sat at the feet of the greats The funny arrows of truth, deftly nocked and swiftly released, reloaded Memorizing the melodies of cleverness, a template for First rehearsed replies, afterthoughts forged by repetition into a more and more accurate weapon, Then hardened into a versatile, agile original design, slashing deep at a moment's notice Always believing this was a method for seizing power, a coup against the lack of various stripes of privilege. And sometimes it is. A needed defense. Not often, but still too much, it's an unattended razor, wounding wantonly Cutting the unwitting, family, friends, slicing and dicing ones you love, leaving you with bleedin...

Can we all make a pact to stop telling little white lies that everyone can see through as well as a freshly Windexed pane of newly minted window glass, and on the flip side of that, to stop getting angry when people tell the unvarnished truth? Don't say, "I can't do that because I emailed my boss (on a Sunday) and I heard back (within moments) and they won't let me miss that day OR have someone else take over for me OR ask someone else to do my work temporarily, AND I may get fired if I miss even five minutes of work (not true because I know the company you work for and its policies)." Do say, "When I realized that the thing I volunteered to help with would require greater than zero effort on my part, I felt oppressed by an ever-increasing sense of the mandatory. Therefore, I'd like to not do it, please." Don't say, "I don't care. Where do you want to eat?" Do say, "While I realize that my saying so may not c...

I don't know if everyone's family is like this, but when I go and continue to go to family gatherings over a period of years, there is an expected level of prosperity that one is expected to attain and exhibit. After any given holiday, the judgment of the family may change depending upon the success or failure of attaining certain life goals. A representative slice of my own family-judged prosperity can be seen above. While I clearly excel at some areas, others are deeply in need of improvement. All I can do is continue to try to meet these family prosperity goals, I suppose. Or not. After all, my own graph would look something like this: So I reckon I'm doing alright. ------------------------------------------ I've been tripping from sipping the dripping dirty water tap I've been thinking of drinking too many drinks all by myself -- Hot Hot Heat ("Bandages")

Understandably, my heritage is a source of great pride. I got Irish blood from my mom. And addictive tendencies from my dad. So don't ask me, "A, WHYYY do ya DRINK? WHYY do you roll smoke? WHYY must you liiive out the soongs that you WROTE? Over and over, everybody made my predictions. But if I get stoned and sing ALL night long, it's a... family tradition." Alright, I'm done plugging Hank J now.