Don't Fuck With Me

Don't Fuck With Me
chalk on paper 8 x 10"
1989 self-portrait

You can't keep me down, I'm hardened steel

I've been cut by the knife and seared by the sun

I've ignored your insults and withstood your apathy

You have not the reservoir to douse the fire within me

I don't hold back and I don't give in

I'm just old enough and just grisly enough

And just rude enough to tell you how I really feel

And just numb enough to not even care

You can't touch me, don't even try

I've dodged your most outrageous arrows

Slung without good fortune or aim

That merely glance over my impenetrable armor

Don't be confused by a body that's badly bruised

Those scars born of rage are now trophies at my age

When everything's been lost, you find your one true cause

Don't stand in my way and I won't have to say

Don't fuck with me.

Thirty Year Old Mike

Thirty Year Old Mike
acrylic on chipboard 18 x 24"
1991 self-portrait

Student Teacher, Cleveland School of the Arts

Student Teacher, Cleveland School of the Arts
acrylic on chipboard 16 x 20"
1987 self-portrait

Beveled Mirror with Evil Alter Ego

Beveled Mirror with Evil Alter Ego 
oil on wood 13 x 18"
1987 self-portrait

Back to You

Sometimes my fits of wanderlust ensue

My pack is threadbare and worn through

When the need to venture out subdues

I'll always come back home to you

There is no plain and simple truth

We hold dear to the vanity of youth

And never get to pick and choose

What we win and what we lose

So yet again I'll strike anew

Cascade across the avenue

But when my outlook arrives askew

I'll head straight back home to you

Perhaps I'll whistle a different tune

Float away like a lost balloon

Find a moment that's opportune

To howl and bray at the moon

Even if my shadow is out of view

And my arrival seems past due

Remember that right on cue

You'll see me coming back home to you.