In this year, I never thought

How much fun he’d bring 

Oh what joy Elliott has brought

I’m liking this parenthood thing 

Between the diapers and the crying

And picking him up everyday 

I’d totes be lying

If I said I didn’t love every day 

Now that he’s one

He will soon start to walk 

And this bundle of fun

Will also talk talk talk

I couldn’t have done it without my baby bear

Thanks for putting up with my shit

I’m so glad we have this life to share

For you and for Smelly, I’ll never ever quit

“Wow, can you get in the correct lane?!”

I scream inside my head at them

While I dig deep in there for a hidden gem

As if my going 3 miles over will provide me a gain

My eyeballs stinging, feeling the strain

From a long night of feeding the smells

And within my head, my own voice yells

“Do you really need an energy drink today?”

Of course I do, as it would prevent the delay

With a swig of the elixir, my problems dispel

Chasing the views, chasing the fame

Never, at one point, thinking that

Your chief definite aim

Shouldn’t be creating a new hip hop cat

But instead of hating the game,

You become a spoiled, terminally online brat

Until nobody knows who you are

Just a long faded, burnt out “star”.

To have dominion over all living things

Is to extend to them the grace of God

For we do know why the caged bird sings

Deep within our psyche, everyday, it prods

To our furry and scaly friends, we must be kind

Because when they look at us, in their mind

Killing and eating them… seems rather odd

Every once in a January

Deep within the Volunteer State

An icy hell overtakes us all

Never planning a single date

Deciding many-a critters fate

All the while, school children anxiously await

From it’s frozen jaws, painful winds blow

Chilling you down to your bone

Unceasing, unrelenting, always hungry for more

Never targeting a certain zone

It’s wintery grasp claims you as it’s own

All of nature, as you let out your final moan

But just as quickly as it arrives, it leaves

Gone, without a single trace

Leaving residents frustrated, angered

Why must I continue to live in this place?

And from their memory, this dark winter erased

Onward, onward, to Spring’s warm embrace.

Oh,The gift of her hazel eyes

The most beautiful of jewelry cant compare

Every morning, taking me by surprise

“My baby is the most fair.”

And oh, those amazing locks

A dark, alluring auburn red

My heart starts to knock

I miss her every night we lay down for bed

But most important, her heart

which gives endless compassion and love

I’m so grateful i get a part

And of her life, i get to be a part of

May we live the rest of our lives together

Through good times and bad, until we reach the nether

In the moment it happens

Your life becomes cryogenic

Unable to love, unable to feel 

And everything in your world blackens

You can hop from pad to pad

Thinking to yourself “this is it, this is the one”

All to let yourself down again

Only to feel even more sad

But when one starts loving themselves

Your cryogenesis slowly, slowly fades

Opening up your heart

Peering deeper into your wells

Eventually, you feel great

Ready to take on the world

And all it took was a single, simple thought

Letting go of burdens, slinking off that self-afflicted weight

No crunching of the brown and dead leaves

Not yet at least, it’s 80 degrees!

Changing my outfits throughout the day

Is it still bright out at 530? No way.

Summer barely clings on, thank goodness for that

Don’t yet have to worry about my car tearing up a cat

But next week?  It’s fifty, for the high

Farewell, glorious Southern Summer, to you, I say goodbye.

“It’s in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped”

The big jawed man will say

As if I haven’t, from the bottom of my soul, scraped

Every last ounce of give-a-fuck, just to be okay

These days zip by, as I ingest more junk

Growing, pound by pound

Downing more beer, getting more drunk

Waiting for my inspiration to be found

But it isn’t there, not in those books at least

Just like Ralph Waldo Emerson said

In order to feed your do-it beast

You must look within your head

I really love watching

Him grow, inch by inch, pound by pound

But it also

Tears me up inside, I’ll never experience this

Again

But I know

That he’ll be the greatest

Little human that ever done was

And ever will be.