History Book

History book, I’m sorry to say,
I bought a shorter version and liked it better,
I don’t understand why they
included that long paragraph in the text
Chicago compared to Berlin. Sorry to say,
I treat you like a storybook with a sour
ending, and all the conflicts are
knotted together like ratty hair,
Or a thin chain, I can’t fix you like I fixed
The hole in my jeans.
The truth is flexible, a series of these short
stories all strung together, a string of
rainbow beads without enough
Honest photographs, and a funhouse of
perspectives,
History book, I treat you like a
Compulsive liar,
Should’ve put you in a theatre show
And watched you sing until the make-up sweated
Off

Seriously though, if you had been an actor I would’ve
came to see the parade
although I liked you better when
you were only a memory in a sparkly blue book with dolphins
Recording what I had done the day before
with a silver lock and a key that I kept
in the stomach of a teddy bear.