You Should Have Seen Me When I Was Young Poem by Raj Dronamraju

Did you come to pay homage to Free Willy? Market tested hyperbole? Urban shell game?

It could have been a rush hour bus, it could have been a dinner party
All I know is from the moment I sat down, she looked like she had a story to tell me
I expected a monologue and I got one
"You should have seen me when I was young"

"Bicycling keeps you fit"
She gestured at her firm thigh and asked me feel it
Here's where the narrative spills the bean and becomes lazy in an arm chair
The human story is a device and it is hard to shape that clay into anything new

"You are going to talk about what I smell like and you will be blunt"
Regardless of the situation, there was only one available seat
I would be blunt in my assessment of this inability to break free of the same formula
The intro "You should have seen me when I was young"

"Tragic" was the word she didn't say but hoped you would say for her
Tragic is the limitations pushed but not overcome
The mind stapled shut waiting for that once in a lifetime new approach
You should have seen me when I was inspired