By Alfred Brown
This is the poem where I finally got to use the sentence that had been rattling in my brain for a few years “Everything was fine until I got shot in the face.” I wrote it first sometime, probably around 2013, then I did some edits to it around 2014 or 2015. The intention with the edits was to make the poems into songs.
29 -id rather be
If you said i was stupid
Id have to agree
But what good is the opinion
Of a fool like me
If you said i was ugly
Id say that i am
For if you said I’m pretty
Id think it a scam
C:
Say what you will
And I’ll agree
I fit the bill
So leave the buck with me
If you said i was lazy
Id of course concur
Cause arguing im efficient
Is not easier
If you said you were better
Id then nod my head
As in those you are better
Just like you have said
And if you wondered why
Id conceed so quick
Id rather be all those things
Than be such a dick
30 -bad news
Bad news is hard to take in an instance
Where acceptance makes no difference
In making any circumstances change
And accepting could only ease pain
C:
Was on the scene
But pretty green
I got some news
That gave me blues
And now my days
Are shades of greys
The futures back
To being black
When it stays bad no matter which you choose
Bad news just eventually stops being news
And when that bad, is really bad, so often
That once news is just old and never forgotten
31 -remember me
Intro:
If i die remember me
Not as i was but how i wanted to be
And though after i die
Your memory of me would be a lie
It is my wish
That you would in fact do this
Because a false memory can last
Longer than the true past
Remember me as a man who succeeded
And never fell so far as could not get up
And in adversity never once retreated
And sailed even when storms would not let up
And asked poltilely never demanded nor pleaded
And overcame the odds even when set up
And cared not when invited where seated
And if not fed enough did not get fed up
C:
And if you should accidentally remember true
I hope you at least remember how i loved you
Remember me as a man who was always strong
And always tried and managed to do good
And no matter where he was seemed to belong
And others gravitated to where he stood
And pushed his way through the maddening throng
And felt no need for disguise with veil or hood
And knew well the words to each rousing song
And inspired all to sing along and they would