Scrap

putting the "man" in "manifesto"? ha! hardly!

Photo by Nathan Macoul on Unsplash

I'd like to scrap
the tired and tiring narrative
that tells a boy
he must be athletic and tough
that he must fling four-letter words
and drink like a pissed fish
from the age of fourteen onward

throw that mess on the junk heap

instead

I will be emotional and flabby
I will be gauche and glorious

I will wield a whimsic vocab
I will not numb my nerves
I will not shrink my wishes

I will say Screw you to John Wayne
and flip the bird to Teddy Ballgame
I will defeat the New England Patriots
with quotations from Niles Crane

I will cultivate eccentricity
I will get all simpy for Compassion
I will scatter sonnets
over the grave of skyfisted daddygod

I will fling impertinent petals
over the ashes of all things macho
I will assail patriarchs and preachers
with cascades of glittery kisses