I Can Learn

 The music’s so loud

I can hear it

Through the ceiling

The pounding so loud

I can feel it

Back a year ago

Your heart is so loud

I can keep time to it

What am I to do?

I got a disadvantage here

I got a not a lot of what to do

What to do

I can’t reverse

My plan of attack

I got a lot

But not to do

What I should do

To get

To get

To get

Around the part

Where we can sleep

Under one roof

The cold outside

The cold inside

The dinner goes cold

On the top

Of the stove

I scrubbed the tiles

I let myself need

I let myself scream

I left myself run around

In the breakdown

I’m at a disadvantage

I’m behind the times

I’m below the belt

I’m beneath my own potential

You don’t have to be

Concerned

When you read this

You don’t have to

Like me

To understand me

You don’t have to

Tell me

That a party

Isn’t happening

That a good time

Isn’t right

That you and me

Can sit here

Sit here

Sit here

And tell me

All about myself

I can’t read

The things you wrote

About me

Because I’m at a disadvantage

Set back

Rolled back

Better back

A month ago

Thirty days to a lover

Thirty days to a spent dime

Thirty days till the next time

We get ourselves

In a tangle

I know what

Your message is

But I can’t

Sort it out

Because I’m at a disadvantage

I can’t speak

The mother tongue

Or hear

The native call

Deep inside the smallest part

Of the darkest part

Of our forgotten corner

Of the world

We feel the hurt

Stronger

And with a tougher pull

On our ability

To get in touch

We’re at a disadvantage

There’s no getting ahead

When you’re so far behind

I can make my bed

But I can’t

Change your mind

The letters leave off

The end of the sentence

And that’s where

The answers are

In the period

Or the question mark

Which is which?

I don’t know

I’m at a disadvantage