the ride [2010]

before the introduction of the alternative     
before we were so astutely grown     
we crowded the backseats of our older brothers     
     to go along for the ride

         

the stereos were always too loud     
the upholstery stank of cheap wine and pot    
we could never quite make out what was so funny in the front     
     but we were learning how
      to kiss girls
      to skip school
      to stay up all night
         to lie to our bosses
      to pound out Moby Dick on the dashboard
      to piss in a Big Gulp cup
      to write poems
      to quickly apply the brakes

at the time     it seemed they would never drive us far enough
but in retrospect     I'm glad they did