Make me the Giant

There's a poetry slam on Thursday. I think I'll call this poem, Halloween Costume.



Make me the giant.
Make me the jolly green giant.
Give me a smile, give me a laugh
give me muscles,
and give me a toga my lover can eat.

Give me a lover, maker her a woman
who can see, I have strength that can't be seen.

My problem is I turn sideways and I can't be seen.

I am skinny. I am scrawny. And all these girls I like
date men twice my size.

I am coming to grips with this.

I have come to grips with this.

I struggle to change. I struggle to grow.
I open my buds and I know I will grow.

I ate more double whoppers, double quarter pounders with cheese and monster thickburgers than I could count. The weight of all that meat adds up to three times my weight.

Once in Amarillo, Texas I had a 72 ounce steak, a baked potato and some corn. I ate it all in 48 minutes. The meal was free but it didn't pack a pound on me.

Make me huge, make me large.

Every woman I see wants a man twice as big as me.

And they tell me that men don't have body image issues.

Kermit says it's not easy being green.
But it's not easy being me.
And I think it's just tough to be a frog.
Blending in with the lilly pads.
And I don't want to blend in anymore.
I don't want to be overlooked and pushed around
and joked about.

Ho, ho, ho.
I want to laugh with somebody, not be laughed at by everybody.
I want to grow in the sunshine.
I want to feel the rain on my naked body.
I want to be free and rooted in the ground.
I want to be the giant.

Make me the jolly green giant.

I want to be the big man in the toga with green hair.
Saying Ho Ho Ho.

And can I get a voice box with the costume.

I am your father Luke.
Eat the brussels sprouts. Eat the broccoli.
Eat the green beans. Eat the spinach.

Once, while talking about visiting a friend in California,
I said I'd be the poet on the beach.
I'd be the skinny guy with a pen and a notebook
writing poems about asparagus and hollandaise sauce.

Make me the giant, the jolly green giant.
When I was younger, I always thought I'd grow up to be bigger.
But nothing works but my imagination.
So I'm becoming a creation
of my own choosing.
The harvest is now.
I am becoming the one that I'm been waiting for.
Greater than the great pumpkin,
I know that I'm something,
I know that I'm someone.
Skinny or scrawny,
laughed at or ignored.
I'm somebody and I've got a voice
and a backbone strong as Jack's magic beanstalk.

But if you would,
if you could,
for one night,
make me the giant.
Make me the jolly green giant.