About the Author
Mark Bromberg
I know average stuff for my height
and I've learned some few things.
I've even remembered a couple
that experience brings:
That if you're not careful
ether explodes with a spark,
and I know how to take
other folks' clothes off in the dark -- that's pretty handy.
I met Little Richard at a suburban mall
who told me I ought to preach the Lord's call.
And it was more fun to be drunk
at the Stein Club on Peachtree
than to read about the D.T.s later
from Charles Bukowski.
I know you can put your head through a windshield,
that it's not so easy jumping from trains,
and sooner or later you'll know someone
who blows out their brains.
Oh, man, I almost forgot
Deacon Lunchbox reading at Tortillas and the White Dot --
I know you're still out there,
you big forget-me-not --
proclaimin' and bangin' that big iron shell
loud enough to drive the devil from hell
and every so often I can still hear you shout
"Lewis Grizzard I'm callin' you out!"
That's about it for now. In short
every one of us gets older
and if we're lucky to survive youth at all
we can be just a little bit bolder.