On the bus Tubbs chews his nails
All the way to Kentucky Lake,
Knowing he’ll have to take it: nettles
In his blanket, dogshit under his pillow,
His socks and underpants in high branches,
And pin money, hidden by mother in a shoe,
Winding up in a bully’s pocket.
Perpetual straightman of campfire skits,
He knows he’ll be last trotting down
To the lake to dive for forks and spoons.
On court his overweight team will be skins.
He’ll endure the counselor’s theory
On taking icy showers, hear how first
You must get your head wet, then your balls,
How someday they’ll get girls
Into cold showers with them,
And they won’t want to act like sissies then.
Reluctantly, Tubbs will enter the freezing drizzle,
His balls shriveling to the size of blueberries.
Even as he slips, gagging like a puppy,
He’ll hear a mean voice inside him saying concentrate.
The voice says you’ll be doing this all your life.