Who Is This?

"Aaaa" with thumbs up in the air,
Black plastic motorcycle,
Black leather jacket,
"McDaa ma-0 mc-daa",
Diaper off peeing into dads Klipsch speaker,
Big Bird Big Bird Sesame Street,
The three pigs and big bad wolf,
Kindercare,
Toilet training raisins packed in cheeks,
Mowers throw rock and cuts his forehead,
Mom tears Kindercare from one end to the other,

Trick or Treat "O what a cute little boy",
Let's go to the next house son,
"But she didn't give me nothing",
Reading to himself at four,
Doing multiplication and division by five,

First grade,
Delaware,
"We want to put him in special ed because of his southern accent",
Needs a speech teacher only supplied through special ed,
Over my dead body,

Second grade,
Savannah,
"He just won't do the coloring pages I give him",
Teacher takes out a huge wad of uncolored pages,
Not when he can draw and color his own,
Very artistic,
Bored at school,
School a constant stuggle,
Wished I knew how to challenge him,

Sixth grade,
"We need to speak to you Mrs. Shroyer",
Another damn teacher conference,
Telling me what a bad parent I am,
"He has made 99 percentile of nation on test in math",
Want to enroll him in summer program at Duke University,
I chose wrong, should have found the money, and made him go,
Didn't really want to spend his summer in school,

Wintertime goes to visit Mama-O in Arkansas,
Aunt Sandra takes him for a walk,
One block away a park with frozen pond,
Just wanted to see if the ice would hold me,
Teeth chattering, Aunt Sandra shaking from the experience,

Red tennis shoes, wild print shorts, buzz cut,
Eyore attitude,
Guitar hard rock player,
Ear shattering concerts with dad,
Knowing what tests he had to pass to get a C,
To keep mom off his back,

Mom holding daughter in chair between windows in living room,
Window shatters,
Stick sails in,
Just wanted to throw it over the roof,
Mad at prissy Laura next door,

Take him to the old bridge to crab,
Black man over side stuck in thick marsh mud,
Comments look what they threw over for bait,
Bad timing for comment,
In the minority on the bridge,

Rides the bus,
Kids torch the bus his leg is burned,
Has to tell principal what he saw,
Kids get expelled,
Takes the station wagon for a spin one day,
Kids in neighborhood banging on my door,
He just took off in the car,
He said boys came up to beat him up,
Found out later he just wanted to drive the car,

J Michael comes to spend the night,
Hey what did you get in so in so,
You said the report cards haven't come yet,
Opps made its way to the gutter somehow,
J Michael goes home,

Starts private school,
Seems happier,
Doing better in classes,
Goes to dance,
Senior cool chick asks him to dance,
Great fun at Halloween spook house,
Plays football,
Hates it,
Too physical,

Move to Ohio,
Pork queen wants to do him,
Note found in pocket of jeans,
School tells them most won't go to college,
VoTech day he chooses meat packing plant,
Watches a cow being killed,
Grades begin to improve,
Moves to Tennessee,
There only a semester,

Last year of High School,
San Antonio,
Doing great in school,
Seems happy, but always hard to tell,
Has a friend called Big Jim, dads a biker,
Has a cute girl at school that gives him her phone number,
Becomes a nurse later in life,
Works at Walgreens,
Goes to prom,
His date turns out to be phsyco,
Falls for a redhead,
Time to move again,
Arkansas,
Throws him into a deep funk,

Doesn't know what he wants,
Mom knows it is getting close to moving time again,
Knows he needs stability, and family around,
Takes him to Tennessee to live with Mama-O,
They have a good school there that will interest him,
It did,
He found his niche,
He found friends to keep,
No more moving,
He found how to apply his natural talents,
He has worked hard to get where he is at,
He has a CAREER not just a job,
Everyone is very proud of him,
His siblings look up to him as a big brother,
He's still a hard rocker,
Very creative,
And listens to his own drummer,

He lives life as he chooses to.