I'll be reading at Dressel's 419 North Euclid, in the Central West End, on Tuesday, October 5, as part of the monthly Poems, Prose & Pints series. The reading begins at 7:00 p.m. and admission is free.
Also reading will be Jon Dressel, Erin Goss, Kelli Allen, David Lucas, Rebecca Brown Gregory, and the featured reader James Stone Goodman.
I'm not sure yet exactly what all I'll read but I'll be sure to read "Roldo the Fish-headed Boy," a poem I wrote way back in 1982:
Roldo the Fish-headed Boy
Roldo was a boy
(that is, he was a young human
with a penis)
who differed from the rest of his society
in that he had the head of a fish
Roldo was a bright boy
he was good at math
and at reading and writing
and he could ride a bicycle like
nothing
but, still, he had the head of a fish
Other boys were often cruel to Roldo
girls, (young humans with vaginas)
were also cruel to him
they (the boys and girls) made up a song
The song was about Roldo
when he would ride by on his bicycle
they would sing:
Roldo the fish-headed boy
he’s so ugly we want to cry
he’s a fish and he should fry
and then they would laugh
The singing and laughing hurt Roldo
but he loved riding his bike too much to
stop
Roldo would often ride blocks
and blocks out of his way to avoid
other children and thus was sometimes
late in arriving at home
where he mother and father would be
anxiously awaiting his return
Mother and Father were worried about Roldo
they felt guilty about inflicting a fish-headed child
on the world and the world
on a fish-headed child
and they were afraid that something would
happen to him and somehow their guilt would be
revealed
But, still, they loved Roldo and when he would
return in tears they would hug and kiss him
and tell him that everything would be alright
and though they hadn’t really believed it
as the years passed things did begin to get better
Roldo’s fish-headedness became less and less
Until one day Roldo was just an average
boy
and went out riding his bike
and no one laughed or sang
This is a masterpiece.
ReplyDelete