Member Poem

Round about nineteen 1971-2, yours truly bid adieu
to Henry Kline Boyer Elementary School
   (situated at crossroads – then beau
colic rural routes of Evansburg Road and Ridge Pike), where nary a clue
prevails today of such pristine farm country due
to undergo radical urbanization during my boyhood edu
cay ting this sensitive kid asper flora and fauna drastically became few,
but  primary aim of poem intent to focus

   on grievous sobbing from lifelike goo goo
doll (cries and whispers ken still be heard within beef jerky
   ladder day grown man body electric) hoo
vividly recollects scathing stabbing, torquing twerking,
   survey monkey wrenching “IDO
NOT WANT TO BE ALIVE” reaction from manifold factors,
   which exponentially increased goy tar attacks
   targeting thine mideastern suffer tick Jew

such baiting (though nary a hint
   how mean neighborhood kids gleaned this information),
   since not one kewpie doll,
   nor telltale Star of David dead giveaway, no one knew
   such sacred symbols never adorned, deployed gripped ourselves,
   (Unitarians encompassed family of origin), which credo Matthew
best describes as a hodgepodge, pastiche, ragbag, et cetera of pew
pills amassed from a gamut of disparate Parochial spew
wing litany trouncing as heresy

   any diametrically opposed sanctified religious treatises
   secular regents questioned plants seeds of white lily
   germinating, sprouting and teasing out through
logical, oratorical, rational invocations such a heretical view
which synoptic backstory of mine, now allows,
   enables and provides an opportunity for you
to read what I intended to be main essence
   of this notion communicated
   from one to another primate within the human zoo.
-    -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -     -   
Upon entering Methacton Junior High School as rookie Warrior,
   (the sturm un drang sports team mascot)
   no doubt this goy he brew
a facade sans being wimpy kid, bookish nerd, and puny dork
   who felt wracked with crew
zing the by gone memory lance of nostalgia to return
   and return as endless student at
   the Henry Kline Boyer Elementary School,
   where failing grades drew
my parents to a private discussion within said

(the one room per grade school house) few
till efforts resulted numb hatter attendance proceeded
   (via non-stellar academic performance grew
significant when graduating the sixth grade.
   No moment of solace experienced, nor integration this hue
man experienced, and the arctic chill recurring every day
on par with notions of bing holed up in an igloo.

Minimal involvement with extracurricular activity at Methacton
   limited to playing Baritone Horny within the band
   though marginal interest existed to maintain constancy
feigning noteworthy interest second to none
   eventually Mister O'Donnell
   (I remember without mental exertion - surmising that tubby name
   of bandleader) synonymous with attitude ill suited,
   thus loss being banned haint grand
loss, and subsequent loss did not stun,
   nor disheartenment arose to forego hearing
   future applauding hand, or standing ovation

and felt reprieve, relieve, when refused further sharing of any awards won
   yet the greatest joy arose to even the score for decision
   foisted upon me to play Baritone Horn now a choice I manned
in tandem with with late afternoon rehearsals
   necessitating this boy not much bigger than the baritone horn
   to make a mad dash with truckload of academic material
   plus encased “mini tuba,” which constantly banged upper right thigh,
   and nearly tripped me to go flailing head over heals.

Exhaustion (a welcome relief with sprinting the distance –
possibly even setting a world record) getting linkedin
(half heartedly envisioning myself whizzing
across the mountains viz tour de France
measuring a winning distance – quite an expanse
whereby giving the strong armed cyclist brandishing his lance
a run...er rather pedal for his money,

   yet this flight of fancy fragile as a séance
vanished without a trace, although this trance
figurative shifted gears burnishing via sans deus sol invictus
   and didst witness glory, where ignominy, humility, and  disharmony
Mister McDonald (supposed namesake) from looming maestro,
   whose countenance evinced
   countless cartoonish, distorted expressive facial grotesqueries
   earning apropos sobriquets
   who jabbed the air with each illusory add vance.