EXCUSE ME by Dennis Doph

out there. 15

Excuse me if I suddenly seem
To me among the legions who look tame
Excuse me if I am off the beam
and inexcusably halt and lame
Excuse me if I tilt my head
Giving the impression I am deaf
That every poem which I compose
Reeks slightly of the stale roman a' clef
A thousand excuses if I spin
Giving the firm impression I am dotty
If this rictus no longer seems to be a grin
If I keep asking for directions to the potty
and, je m'excuse , stud, if I no longer seem to be
The shoulder everyone once leaned upon
If the only Barrymore who means shit to me
Is Lionel Miss Ethel or John
If I now run as if pursued by devils
From anything resembling rap or rock
I may have now convinced you on several levels
That I precisely do not give a fuck
And if the road on which I tread
Becomes increasingly ruttier and rockier
Tell them I am tetched inside my head
Because I remember Czechoslovakia
If I remember how King Kennedy tooled
His carvan into downtown Dallas
And that pinnacle which once over-ruled
Is no longer affected by Viagra or Cialis
Excuse me for falling into this trough
For all these cards which I've been forced to deal
And if I hack and spit and cough
Very much like Garbo as Camille
If these weary eyes are now a-weary seeing
The fact that I've become unusable
It's just that my new state of being
Is just so fucking inexcusable
Excuse me if I no longer seem to know
Or care about your achievements or your deals
And, finally, excuse me if I throw
This Molotov Cocktail beneath your wheels.