Done with the Game

I’m done chasing muses
for a cup of coffee
or a quickie behind the bleachers

where games get played
and bystanders stand at ease
applauding your sweat-soaked effort

piled high like clichés,
you know the ones I mean
no I in team, just do it — that sort of thing.

Don’t get me wrong
this isn’t simply a case
of refusing to admit some sour grapes

or a question of taste,
that particular turn of phrase
like some proverbial music that we all

at some point or another
will be forced to face —
and mainly against our better wishes.

Maybe it’s the same
as old Billy penned we’d do,
our need to take the stage and ape

someone else’s lines
hitting each mark on cue
before the madding crowd adopting

just the right role based
on any situation — and so to
reiterate, I’m done with the game.