Dream-Song of a White, Heterosexual Male

Dream-Song of a White, Heterosexual Male

by Kelp

Your ice cream cone is dripping
But you cannot lick it.
You have no tongue;
There is something ripping
It from your mouth.
There’s words you can and cannot say,
And nightmare dreams you can’t pronounce,
But are nonetheless explicit.
Feelings of inadequacy and unpreparedness.
Can’t find your tennis racket
No matter where you look for it.
The tennis balls are waterlogged.
They can barely bounce.
Waiting for you in pleated pajama,
Your tennis partner, Barack Obama.
Making yet another error,
You call him Doctor instead
Of Mr. President or something better
Or more appropriate to a Head
Of State. It’s just all wrong
And you’re keeping him waiting
And you can’t bounce the water
Out of the tennis balls; it’s tricky.
And anyway your hands are
Dripping ice cream tar
That isn’t sweet at all
But unpleasantly sticky.