The Exchange

Based on Randy Baker's 'Prompted #5':

'To Be Played At Maximum Volume'

- from the back cover of David Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars':

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From the Son:

Dad, you are, like, nowhere if you think that I’m gonna change!

Time is on my side and I don’t think you understand what it means

To be free and ready to take on the rest of the wide world with this…

I may be a little wild and crazy, but this is our sound and you should

Respect what I like. Light up another smoke and lighten up!

You may already be half-alive or even dead and not know it, old man.

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From the Dad:

Son, I was a kid once, and with the mercy of the spirits, I will live long enough

To gain some quietude and make it through my final days on this planet with grace.

There are tools we all receive when we are born and I have learned to use them to the

Best of my ability. But I want you to know something: in the sea we sail on called “Life”,

We sometimes need a compass to guide us toward the glow and shine of the right port.

And if you ever call me old again, I am slicing up every wire in your stereo.

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Words chosen: nowhere, time, free, wild, light, dead, compass, quietude, glow, sea, slicing, tools, grace

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You can find more poems, stories, and articles by Kendall Defoe on my Vocal profile. I complain, argue, provoke and create...just like everybody else.

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