by Scott Michael Miller

DO: Mix the music and drinks, mix it up;
cut them with lines of sex.
DON’T: Read the newspaper, work or compose;
be what The Man rejects.

DO: Roll a fattie and turn on the tube
(hamburgers gettin’ it on!).
DON’T: Get up – no need!  Viagra by Internet…
spam’s got your MET1SUN.

DO: Have a few beers and then hit the road –
it’s the only way in L.A.
DON’T: Get caught (this applies double when black);
pull over, then race away.

DO: Make a pass at your sister-in-law when
she comes over to get high.
DON’T: Let her make you write her term paper
(she has to learn to get by).

DO: Join an army and live for the cause –
it doesn’t matter which.
DON’T: Join an army that’s going to fight –
war is a total bitch.

DO: What you want, and forget all the rest:
snort your soda of choice.
DON’T: Think that you could ever change anything…
you’ve never had a voice.

Scott Michael Miller, a parolee of suburban Philadelphia, holds a degree in Mathematics from MIT; in December 2008, he earned an MFA. from Antioch University, Los Angeles. His poems have appeared in Barefoot Muse, Two Hawks Quarterly and poeticdiversity. He is also a poetry editor for The Splinter Generation. Scott lives in Reseda, CA with his wife of seven years.