Finding out from the beginning

Exposition

“In the beginning you really loved me

But I was blind and I could not see

But when you left me, oh how I cried

You don’t miss your water till your well runs dry”

(sung by the Byrds and Taj Mahal in the 1960s)

Development

A.sk about riddles, use your hot brain pan

F.ind out from the beginning if you can

U.nderstand as much of the complete plan

D.iagnose and scope out the entire scene

G.ather all your random thoughts in between

I.nvestigate using intelligence and introspection

N.udge your mind’s memory banks into action

G.o at it again from many different angles

H.ave at it until you reach some satisfaction

A.ttack with all your might all day and night

L.isten to your brain bursts, leaps, and tangles

F.ocus on what might be both wrong and right

W.atch out for stubborn memories and mangles

I.gnore nothing and learn from beginning to end

T.hen you’ll see what is coming around the bend.

Recapitulation

Daddy said my oldest brother was a halfwit

and called his second oldest son a dimwit

He said that all my extraneous horse poo-poo

Would get me only hard laboring jobs to do that I was growing up to be a f…ing half wit.

N.B. Lines in the Development section beginning with ‘Diagnose’ and ‘Gather’ have been used to replace lines beginning with ‘Construct’ and ‘Keep’ to avoid a commonly used vulgar expletive in the acrostic that rhymes with trucking or plucking.

That ‘F’ word is used in many parts of speech. It can have multiple meanings including anger, extreme distaste, to emphasize a point, or describe to what extent something is happening to someone. The original lines were ‘Construct a picture of the entire scene’ and ‘Keep reason and rational thought and what is in between.’

Joey aka “Pepe Batbon” Connolly is a retired educator who taught in the CNMI, NOLA, and LVNV. He is the Poet Laureate of Tinian and enjoys stargazing.