As a kid, I got a kick out of Nanny reprimanding Papa whenever he got too mischievous. He'd do or say something out of line and she'd scold him and reel him back in. It wasn't until recently that I discovered that a lot of those times were just an act. Mom pulled back the curtains and revealed that Nanny would find reasons to scold him because she noticed how amused my brother and I would get every time he got in trouble with her. Although it was at his expense, Papa was a good sport about it. I imagine he played along for our sake.

It was like having a free, front row seat to a two-man improv comedy show. Papa would play the funny man, grappling with flimsy excuses to justify his behavior. Nanny would play the straight man or rather, woman, combating him with sound reasoning and ultimately putting him in his place. Together, they worked as a team in order to make my brother and I laugh.

This was just one of the many ways they made us happy.

The man sleeping

upon the bus stop bench

blocking your view

of this month’s

burger ad,

paid for by the fast-food joint

around the corner,

is hungry,

and his name is Bert Huggins,

if you cared to know.

Anxious waiting

Comprehending

The full weight

of this

imminent collision

Time will be measured

from that point on

Only as

Before

and

After

I took the time to look around

At the hunched backs and bent necks

And the tears falling on a screen

I realize the wasted time

The autotuned screams

The pixelated faces

And girls who are fake

Or animated vulgarly

Scared to look real issues in the face

Like the amount of depression

And amount of pure worry

And children just wanting the future to hurry

Forget the enjoyment of the imagination

Nay the fear of face-to-face confrontation

or the character building we desperately desire

or the first time of feeling love's fire

let us find our religion in the left or the right

or what the internet says at 3 at night

let our blood run RBG

and our brains on dark mode

and believe anything

that Mark Zuckerburg wants to show

but for me

don't give me a screen

Or the fake ecstasy of pixels dancing

Give me a pen