by Kirby Wright
Stitch your pockets shut so you can’t hide your hands.
Try out for football even though you’ll probably get cut.
Dance in your bedroom mirror.
Don’t dance in the restroom.
Smoke a clove cigarette long enough to choke.
Eat French fries without ketchup.
Use tea tree roll-on.
Never macramé.
Don’t wear macramé belts.
Get a crush on Miss Whatzhername, I think she teaches math.
Eat hot meals instead of cold sandwiches.
Flirt back when flirted with.
Say ‘golden lizard’ twice at 2:22 on school days to create a sense of mystery.
Wink.
Go behind the gym with that girl from French class.
Keep your hands busy since you have no pockets.
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ABOUT THE POET ~
Kirby Wright was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii. He is a graduate of Punahou School in Honolulu and the University of California at San Diego. He received his MFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University. Wright has been nominated for two Pushcart Prizes and is a past recipient of the Jodi Stutz Memorial Prize in Poetry, the Ann Fields Poetry Prize, the Academy of American Poets Award, the Browning Society Award for Dramatic Monologue, and Arts Council Silicon Valley Fellowships in Poetry and The Novel. BEFORE THE CITY, his first book of poetry, took First Place at the 2003 San Diego Book Awards. Wright is also the author of the companion novels PUNAHOU BLUES and MOLOKA’I NUI AHINA, both set in Hawaii. He was a Visiting Writer at the 2009 International Writers Conference in Hong Kong, where he represented the Pacific Rim region of Hawaii. He was also a Visiting Writer at the 2010 Martha’s Vineyard Writers Residency in Edgartown, Mass., and the 2011 Artist in Residence at Milkwood International, Czech Republic.
Last updated September 08, 2011