Remember, these are all unedited...
Outrospective:
Haven't put my thoughts down
since the sun came out,
Summer's nine month gestation
in light Oregon rain inspire
far more introspection.
Today I embrace outrospection
in the 85 degree perfection and sunshine.
The four unique draw bridges,
I can see with a simple turn of the head
from my park bench,
impressed at how good hot coffee is
even in this heat.
at Tugboats
at everyone's headphones (and what they're listening to)
at dedicated lunchtime joggers,
at the sleeping vagrant's beard and happy mutt
at the train blowing it's whistle.
All impressive, all magic,
All without moving anything but my head.
not even straining my neck.
I wonder what I'll find deeper into the city,
I strap on my helmet, travel three blocks and...
A Eulogy to a Weezer T-shirt:
Oh Weezer Shirt, My Weezer Shirt (thanks to Walt Whitman and Robin Williams)
Oh Weezer Shirt, My Weezer shirt
We are gathered here today, to give thanks to the shelter,
the branding, the false sense of being cool and part of something,
imparted by this black graphic tee, that was somehow more,
somehow a representation of everything good in the 1990s.
It didn’t make me look like Buddy Holly,
or more attractive to half Japanese girls, but it traveled
from state to state, early high school, to college, through marriage,
to post-bac work, and almost made it to medical school.
It made its final stand floating down a river
in a cheap inner tube with good friends and a bag of pork rinds
before it was actually warm enough for said activity.
Oh Weezer shirt, My Weezer Shirt
You weren’t given to goodwill to decorate a new
high school freshman or an ironic hipster,
you faded and deteriorated as I was towed upstream after having failed
to make a successful landing at the boat put out.
One last protection, for one last failure.
Oh Weezer shirt, my Weezer shirt,
How many bad religious and philosophical discussions did you witness?
You were there for me at church camp…and after that went down in
a blazing campfire of revelation.
And one too many viewings of Dead Poet’s Society.
You were there through cases of diet coke,
an attempt at straight edge, cases of beer,
bottles of wine, pizza, suicide attempts, and awful hair choices.
And now you’ve gone away to retro tee-shirt museum in the sky,
And we salute you.
You had little to do with the band that sold you,
and more with a representation of geek chic before it was
the in thing.
Oh Weezer shirt, My Weezer shirt,
You were cool and then uncool, until becoming cool again.
You made it ok for me to read comic books, and worship the
X-Men more than the Bible,
Secure that I’d never lose my insecurities.
Oh Weezer shirt, My Weezer shirt,
Fallen apart at the seams,
Left at peace on the riverbank.
Here’s to one last unironic Kiss song,
and taking my bike to work,
You made it all ok,
Oh Weezer shirt, My Weezer Shirt.
