"Coney Island Fashion Week" - 2/24/21
(RIP Lawrence Ferlinghetti)

I can picture the book exactly where I left it
Lovingly, prominently dog-eared pages with no regrets
I wasn't supposed to fold down pages of particular
Tomes in my household I was taught early on
That was a sign of some kind of disrespect

But when it came to Ferlinghetti there was no getting
Me to behave properly I would fall asleep holding
Those pages in a way I never really took to the longer
Forms in his words, style, sensibility, my youth's
Innocence exploded my sister was the real intellect
In our family everyone heard the stories constantly

How she taught herself to read at two flashlights
Under the covers undercover adult and soon-to-be
Best-seller still to this day she is the one rightfully
Deemed demonstrably intelligent and I, the bohemian
Wrapped around shorter bursts of words and lyrics

Drawn to the moon in times of conflict peacenik
'Flakey' in comparison to everyone around me
In my own world but it was a world credit where due
Sparked unequivocally by you I think you were given
Extra esteem buy my book-buyer, neo-Bostonian Mom
Transplanted from the South to an East Cost full of

Dream-mist hope but also perceived as a runaway
Traitor of sorts uprooting herself to find her self
And so these qualities were unconsciously passed
Along each page I used to write the beginnings of
My own responses thoughts, doodles, inklings of

A life that would become I hoped something larger
Than other's expectations something richer than
Incentivised frustrations I went for the A's the degree
Perpetual parental approval but always there was a
Private quest for the day when, like you, I could find
A purpose a clan a way to nurture anew something

You began I can picture the book exactly where I left it
Lovingly, prominently dog-eared pages with no regrets
I wasn't supposed to fold down pages of particular
Tomes in my household I was taught early on
That was a sign of some kind of disrespect

Unlearning lessons for which I had no use
Relearning consciousness that came naturally to you
I sit here today, legs crossed and newly determined
To keep your 101 candles burning to write as many
Notes as I like in the margins fastidious irrepressible
Ahead of your time defending free speech never going

Out of style