Haircuts

(To be read aloud)

I believe that
Way back before Eve and Adam even
Spat out the seeds and the core of the the last ingredient,
Real, true happiness was absent from Eden
Unless the serpent’s recipe also demanded a
Hot stove, good work
Good friends over on the weekend,
A couple leaves over what’s indecent,
Gettin’ real cozy bundled up in sleeves in the low degrees
And some fuck-the-police disobedience.
So the same moment the police raised megaphones,
Unfolded wings, told ‘em they had to leave
Bright halos, Archseargant on radio to the chief,
I could maybe see ‘em crawl, reduce themselves
Beg on palms and knees in the fall from God’s graces
But never trade back knowledge gained in non-complacence.
‘Cause temperance means you’ve got a beast
And you tie it down,
And honesty means you’ve got something to lie about,
And confidence means that you understand your flaws and that
With experience and practice they can be ironed out.
Joy is brand new music, concerts,
Handing entire afternoons off to good authors,
Being stumped ’til it dawns on you,
‘Clicks’ like conductivity over wire, filament, copper,
A rhyme, a fingertip on the switch for the light
“That’s the word…”—That’s happiness,
Gettin’ verses RIGHT.

This work by Patrick Fisher is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.