On Learning the Lyrics to Viva Las Vengeance Before Attending the Panic at the Disco Concert with my 18-year-old Daughter
On Learning the Lyrics to Viva Las Vengeance Before Attending the Panic at the Disco Concert with my 18-year-old Daughter
Daniel Romo
I learn the lyrics to the song
because concerts are more fun when singing along
rather than humming,
though one is always to be commended for performing
and composing
a symphony of their own
syllables.
Stuck here in the weeds,
on a road that leads,
to nowhere…
There are apps where you can take photos of plants
and learn all about their existence.
Pay monthly, and they can tell you if they’re overwatered
or neglected,
and who doesn’t wish that technology existed
during their driest seasons
so they could’ve just snapped a picture of their past
and known just how to nurture
the hurt?
My wife says to speak life because our words
are meant to encourage and uplift
and I give my own plants pep talks,
“Stay lean, mean,
and green.”
Every moment is a replay,
I’m being buried alive.
I watch my childhood favorite baseball players die around me
and can’t help but think of my parents
who are playing in their 8th innings.
Didn’t want to kill the DJ
But it can’t hurt to try.
I close my eyes and belt out the lyrics I was able to learn
to the tune of the loudest of guitar solos,
the greenest of thumbs.
Daniel Romo is the author of Bum Knees and Grieving Sunsets (FlowerSong Press 2023), Moonlighting as an Avalanche (Tebot Bach 2021), Apologies in Reverse (FutureCycle Press 2019), and other books. He received an MFA from Queens University of Charlotte, and he lives, teaches, and rides his bikes in Long Beach, CA. More at danieljromo.com.
