To My Child, Yet to be Conceived
For your sixteenth birthday
I will make you a mixtape.
full of your favorite songs,
well, the ones that I can remember,
and the ones I had you listen to
as we grew up together,
and I learned how to be a father
and you learned how to be a better
you through trial and error,
like we all do, despite the terror
presented by choice
but through that voyage you will find your voice
and I know by now, you’ve made a mistake or two
but don’t dwell too long on them or they stick like glue.
There will be a lot of regrets
in the future to forget, so
for now just put on these headphones and let go.
For your sixteenth birthday
I will make you a mixtape.
Not a mixed CD
or a custom playlist of mp3s,
I mean seriously, old school -
so old that the world forgets it exists
the late great
cassette tape mix.
I’ll even dig up my old trusty and true
antique Walkman tape player,
wipe off the layers
of dust and pass it on to you.
and every couple songs I’ll sick in a poem or two
to remind you that it’s not always about the music,
but what it has to say
and I hope you play it through more than once,
and listen closely
cause I’ll have messages hidden in there
just little puns
that no one in the world would get
but you and me.
and you’ll laugh to yourself
and the other kids will think you’re crazy
they won’t know the half of it,
having fallen from our nutty family tree.
So, for your sixteenth birthday I am making you a mixtape
that way, your won’t forget your roots
and don’t forget your rain boots,
it gets muddy out there.
and if at anytime along your road, you feel like you’re all alone
just pop in that mixtape and you’ll know
I’ve been there all along,
in between every song
reminding you
that it’s okay
to sing along.
J.M. ROMIG is a would-be traveling storyteller by means of poetry, short prose, plays, and spoken word art. He has one goal in life and that is to share his stories with the world. You can find him on Facebook and Redbubble.com, just search TheCatalystPoet.
