The Stupidity Of Youth Poem by Bryan Corbett

i was so brilliant when i was younger
just ask me
well, except for that one time
that i stuck my finger into the fan
or that time i jumped off the garage and broke my leg
then there was the time i rode my bike no-handed
right into the side of a brick building
oh, never mind...

the tattoos were definitely a good idea, though
just ask me
got my first one when i was seventeen
visiting some city or another in Texas
then, over the course of the next five or six years
i proceeded to cover my entire body with them
from chin to ankles
from finger to mangled finger
i was going to be a walking piece of art

but the crowning glory of my brilliance
just ask me
was definitely the Japanese writing on my forearm
it summed it all up, my every thought
my unique message to the world
and it was brilliant
i found it on the wall
the tattoo artist translated it for me: The Stupidity of Youth

Ya see, i thought, in all my wisdom,
that as i grew older and the tattoos
had all faded and blurred into unrecognizable lines and shapes
i thought, that the humor of that one single tattoo
would one day make me look very wise, indeed
even insightful, or perhaps, perceptive

Yesterday, my genius came crashing down
all around me
forty years since that one day in Texas
when i asked the Japanese man
standing behind the liquor store counter
why he was laughing so loud
literally HOWLING
doubled over, trying to breathe

when he could finally could catch his breath
and had wiped the tears from his eyes
he translated the writing for me: Retarded