You said there was no way that ‘I’ could be anything I wanted to be
I showed you my new glove I paid for with my paper route money
You had a baseball and tossed it at your sister’s cat, Trotsky
I asked if you wanted one of my paper routes
You showed me the new bike your dad gave you for not stealing
I said I could be a ballplayer and asked if you wanted to throw to me
You said that a glove would not make me a ballplayer
I said you would need more balls to back up that statement
You punched me in the nose
I bleed all over my white sneakers
You said you might want a route and rode off on your new bike
I finished my paper route and made another payment on my bike
You choose me to play on your team at recess
I got left out of batting order and got stuck in right field
You took over my paper route, never paying up the overdue collections
I paid the overdue collections
You said I could pound sand if I thought you would pay back the money
I said I would pound you
You punched me in the nose
I felt good about not bleeding on anything important
You said I could be anything that sounded like failure
I watched as later that night your house burned down
You had taken the batteries from the fire alarm for the light on your bike
I asked if you knew what had happened to cause the fire
You said your sister’s cat, Trotsky
I said I had sold Trotsky to the Barley brothers two hours earlier to pay for uncollected paper route fees
You said then why was a burning cat seen running into your garage
I said everyone knows the Barley brothers love to set cats on fire
Guess I failed to see that coming
