1.
Ignore the numb in your fingers, deny
the cold authority of the fire inside
(if you're not careful, it will consume you)
You borrow guitars not knowing
if you’ll ever return them, you beg for change
in liquor store aisles to feed the fire just enough
to keep it smoldering, you drink
too much black coffee at night just
to get the lightning out
(you can forget so much in an instant)
You take a beating here, but
you can’t create something
if it comes easy
(nothing worth a damn, anyway)
2.
This was how we all grew up.
This is how we make it:
in the streets,
in the rain gutters choked
with rotten leaves, between shifts
riding the bus beside bangers and old folks,
living on our in-laws' couches and skating by
on sixty bucks per paycheck.
We make it without fear
of bill collectors
(This call is to collect a debt...
Get bent)
We make it without guilt
(a friend once said if you’re looking back
you ain’t moving forward, that’s for sure)
We make something of it
because the alternative is extinguishment,
that slow death by asphyxiation
in a rainbow of polyester blends
and aloha patterned ties on Fridays.
You have to have something
to grab a hold of, something
worth fighting for even
when you've got nothing left to lose.
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