Governor Smith Poem by Stayin Song

By Josh Rodriguez

Governor Smith is a good man.
He has a good way about him,
He’s like a flower and we’re all like bees.
He can get us and he knows it.
We know that he knows that he can get us.
He means what he says.
All of it,
Every last word.
He smokes a few too many cigarettes,
But we understand his plight and his stress
And his addiction.
I’m damned to hell by eyes of scorn
Every time I light up in public.
I don’t have his standing.

He hates gay marriage.
It’s a passion of his, ignorance.
He’s on an elevated platform,
His ignorance is accepted
And generally tolerated and even
Praised. Everyone else is just
Homophobic. He’s doing what his
Job entails, really.
Just the other day he was caught
With his male lover.

We don’t rub his face in it, though.
Rubbing his face in it
Is rubbing our face in our blind faith
And our tendency of double standards.
We’d much rather stray from reality
And facing problems
And likewise subjects
Than deal with them.
It’s our plague.

Our antidote is avoidance,
It’s obviously effective.
Ask Bob Marley.
We don’t realize that hope
Isn’t infinite. It’s finite.
It’s scarily finite.
The more we bowl down
Empty corridors
The less we have to bowl
Down lanes and knock a pin or two over.
It’s ok. Strikes are overrated.
Clown shoes and fraudulent
Hope is a common scene nowadays.