It Would Have Been Cool

I think it would have been cool
to have gone to school
with my mom.
We would have been good friends I'm sure.
We could have walked to the mall together
cutting through the back yard
of a pastor's house
while skipping class.
I would have gone to the cemetery with her
at eleven o'clock to smoke reefer
and listen to Mystery Theater
on a small radio she had.
And then we could drink Tab
in class and smile at the teacher
who thought he had said "No pop in school"
but instead made a loop hole when he said
we couldn't drink it unless everyone else could have some.
And we'd smile when my mom put a
can on his desk too.
It would have been cool to go to school
with my mom
we could put makeup on in the bathroom and
talk about Paul Carpenter and she could tell me how
she got so skinny.
We would be seventeen in 1979 and she wouldn't
laugh at me for liking disco.
But I wasn't even a twinkle of an eye
in '79
and instead I laughed at Paul Carpenter's
afrolicious yearbook photo.