Long way away
from those skateboard days.
Broken bones never fazed.
We just went anyway.
The concrete unyielding,
but we didn’t care.
Pain was the price we paid
for some sick air.
Man, we could use
some of that reckless courage
at this age.
We build up so many walls,
we grow afraid of what lays beyond.
War and peace are all the same.
Temporary moments in the day.
Those rattle can
spray paint phrases.
Images that captured our distain,
in hot pink, day-glow paint.
Not because we sought to claim the space,
but we felt that our message
was the defiance of our name.
Quick sharpie sigil,
or a masterpiece on the rail.
Shorthand for the young and dumb,
too numb to feel,
too brave to fail.
We could use a little
of that irreverence today.
A little “don’t-give-a-fuck”
in the right time,
the right place.
Too many are afraid to say
the things they’re really thinking
on any given day.
Too many want to be led around
and told what to believe,
but some of us
have always had
our own way to be.
We could use a little more of this today.
In the right time,
the right way.
We were braver then
than we are now,
almost like we’ve forgotten how
to live
our own way.
DJR – 2023
