A Changing Stew Poem by Kurt Philip Behm

I'm predisposed to Italian food,
even when it's bad

I'd rather live in a period house,
old windows poorly clad

I tend to favor contact sports,
over all the other kind

My mind was trained to like these things,
though better I would find

It wasn't out of malice,
or a sense that I was best

I drank the open chalice,
never beating on my chest

With time my views have broadened,
and my edges softened too

My life a jambalaya,
—and the truth a changing stew

(Villanova Pennsylvania: June,2017)