Kept Kafka in the corner

In High School,
I occasionally practiced
dressing as a poet,

thoughtful sweaters
and lots of hair,

listening to
lots of bands

with dead
or death
in the name. Meaning,

black t-shirts
most days.

Camus.
Dostoevsky.
Hesse.

Reading alone.

I drank
two Dr. Peppers
and ate

two scoops
of ice cream
every day,

sat in one of two corners
at lunch.

Usually laughing
or arguing
with

my three friends,
the girlfriend
and some occasional difficult other.

Had a faded ride-to-school relationship
with my second-in-Charlotte
best friend.

Had a nightly habit
of dancing
in my room

to Jane's Addiction.
And in Junior High School,

I gave up
Dungeons & Dragons
and comics

and wrote love poems
as a means
of anonymous seduction.

I also
got glasses
and learned how to masturbate.

Not much has changed.