GUILTY, YOUR HONOR

Yes,
I admit it:
I stole a Milky Way
from Mr. Schwartz's candy store
every chance I got;
Yes,
I pissed on the toilet seat
& didn't wipe it;
Yes,
I diddled Mary
in my closest
when my parents weren't home;
Yes,
I cheated off Joel's paper
on a Common Sense test;
Yes,
I pilfered my father's Chesterfields
& my mother's Benson & Hedges 100's;
Yes,
I lied to them
with regularity
having all our best interests
at heart;
Yes,
I told girls I loved them
& didn't call the next day,
or the day after;
Yes,
I hid;
Yes,
heroin saved my life;
Yes,
I believe
there's no god
except the one
that makes me
feel better;
Yes,
I laughed
it off;
Yes
I'm a fraud a phony a trickster
& a murderer
of time;
Yes...
But...
Your Honor,
I did what I did
with what I had
to do it with.
I do not ask
for justice,
only mercy, and
someone
to talk
to.

Norman Savage
Greenwich Village, 2015