Radical Ideas

When you’re an American teacher
In Sweden,
Your job is often extra
Interesting.
Here everyone is expected
To conform.
And neutral complacency
Is the norm.
But I try to teach them
Ideas radical.
And instill some passion
Most emphatical.
That self-reliance and defiance
Are okay.
(Though neither of these is the
Swedish Way.)
And it won’t hurt them to
Have opinions.
We really don’t need more
Mindless minions
Of the Nanny State, handing all
Their needs.
I’m encouraging dissent among
Young Swedes.

Shoulders!

(On the occasion of my good friend Marnie’s impending shoulder operation)

We shoulder the load just like Atlas,
Though maybe that’s not really us,
We mostly shoulder like Sisyphus,
But a bigger point to come to grips,
Without shoulders where’d we put our chips?
They carry the weight we have to try on,
And are handy for others to have a cry on,
They’re a vital part of any hug,
And without them well, what would we shrug?
Sometimes our shoulders rub another shoulder,
And when we’re pissed we make them colder,
When life’s tough we put them to the wheel,
Which is how I know you’ll completely heal,
Cuz though the operation scares you crapless,
Without your shoulders you’d go strapless,
And I know just as well as you,
That that would never ever do!

Spooning a Stranger (a co-write)

Spooning a stranger,
Wondering how I got here,
What’s the distance from now to then,
Leaving myself behind,
Talk when she says when,
She brings me to the moment,
Takes me to the edge,
Turns me round,
Then brings me back again,
And because she is a stranger,
It’s safe enough to open up,
And let her come all the way in,
For when spooning a stranger,
A part of me lets go,
And where it goes,
I guess I’ll never know.