Since you,
    the man who showed me how
    to fry an egg over-medium,
    no longer knows how
    to chop up a zucchini,
    to your wife’s liking anyway,
    then I will show you how.

Since I,
    a man who has resisted
    confrontation since he was a boy,
    even earlier, if you count coming out
    when my mom wanted me to,
    not quite when I myself was ready,
    is now being asked
    to be a villain,
    then I will be one.

Since we,
    as a group, a family,
    wittled down
    to the core essentials,
    have decided to put our collective
    head in the sand, hoping against hope
    that the wave bearing down on us,
    in fact does not exist,
    then please excuse me
    if I step to the side and watch the carnage,
    refusing to believe that I’m not
    also drowning.