19.6.24 (Takin’ It to the Streets)

Approaching the anniversary of my last shave,
harnessing its raw powers by deciding to “Turn It Loose”,
I’m finally starting to grow into my moustache.

Recently, I’ve begun listening to The Doobie Brothers
on bike commutes to work, “Takin’ It to the Streets”
while eyeing every four-door sedan, waiting
for one to pull out & put me on the “Losin’ End”.

My blue twenty-four gear “Wheel of Fortune”
barely keeps my #DadBod from growing,
a first new pant size in eight years,
not in the direction one hopes;

which led to the forced “Carry Me Away” pile
of eight nine-dollar department store shorts,
bought on sister’s discount cause its ten percent.

Pinching pennies, hoping one day to make it to “Rio”,
like the  whole reason I started bike rides to work
was to save up vacation money “For Someone Special”;

a young skinny love, that burned black holes in my mind
for “It Keeps You Runnin’” along perpendicular grids,
The “8th Avenue Shuffle” I recreate with every pretty face
cause it worked so well with a that pretty face.

Then Michael McDonald’s voice stops,
I’m pulling in the driveway, heavy humid huffing:
I turn 30-years-old in three months, clueless
just like when I first gulped 20-years-old breath.