Some Random Issues

John Repp

Things are so much more random now,
what with all the issues everyone has,
especially when going off on someone
(or having been gone off on) 
or going off of what someone says
without first feeling them or her or him
so no words get put in mouths—I mean,
what you put out comes back on you,
but to stray from my lane a second, 
let me pull your coat about this random thing 
because it looks to this old head like memes 
are another thing, right? Scope the hat 
Pharrell Williams rocked when he first got big.
Dude looked like a miniature Tom Mix, 
you feel me? Whitest dude in the movies 
till Gene Autry, but still. Dang, I came up 
when it was dope to wear a coonskin cap, 
so I know from stupid looks, but phew, 
Pharrell ain’t the only one needs a new haberdasher.
Hate me for harshing so hard, but every tick-tock
makes my home in the land of Maypo more freaky,
country where one stored one’s milk in the Frigidaire 
& handkerchiefs had yet to become Kleenex.
Neutrons never used to be random. Electrons
once orbited. No way “gamma” could ever
modify “knife.” Notice a proton or it isn’t?
Grok that, dude. Binary to the max. I have a size-
eight head, so I can flip any lid, believe you me.

Genre: 
Author Bio: 

John Repp is a poet, fiction writer, essayist, and folk photographer living in Erie, Pennsylvania. His latest book is The Soul of Rock & Roll: Poems Acoustic, Electric & Remixed, 1980-2020, published by Broadstone Books.

Issue: 
62