Schlerotic schlemiel schleps...

Into lonely senescence -

three plus decades already elapsed

trepidation, hesitation unbearably

tugging, shouldering,

remonstrating accumulation

of "baggage" thumb

of right hand thrust out

silently raving, quaking

cursing ultimatum parents

(soffit to fascia in)

saw fit to fashion

and hammer home

 

red hot poker rage

their singular male offspring

middle child of two sisters,

who long since vacated premises

when both young naifs

prior to attaining age of consent

deploring bing holed up

at 324 Level Road redoubt

built as summer house

remote from fracas of urban bedlam

still fifty years since Leipers

bon voyage into netherland

 

father and mother

imposed swiftly tailored

harried styled tough love

translated meant absolute zero value

toward offspring they begot,

and made quite clear loathing

 

heaped upon sundered fountainhead

good for nothing son of a...,

he whittled away precious time

reading avast among trove of material

crowdsourcing numerous bookshelves

mostly to impress intellectual visitors,

 

when in truth middle aged couple

thinly veiled country bumpkins,

donned with "FAKE" literacy

stereotypical "rednecks,"

inexplicably begot wunderkind

agog with inhaling literature

 

in tandem with liberal

magazines and newspapers

oft times whiled away countless hours

sunup to sundown

sequestered most remote nook

within local library

few miles walk along country road

served as self taught schooling

since parochial educated regimen

habitually rapped knuckles

courtesy whiplike hickory stick

if pupil evinced slightest

 

distraction, whence schoolmaster

detected lack of attention

as crotchety curmudgeon

blankly droned monotonously

dull jabbering subjected

stone faced classmates

 

into instant soporific state

futilely struggling to keep eyelids

slamming shut tight

including yours truly,

who when suddenly awake

realized quite a vivid dream!