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Track 4) Average Joe

from My Life as a Dancing Rat by Jonathan Rome

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lyrics

There’s a senior in my 6th block that everyone calls “Average Joe”.
I guess he just has one of those faces, right?
Like he’s the guy you look at and think,
“Now there’s someone that’ll end up with a wife and two kids, working office jobs for bosses that can’t hate him, but can’t praise him either. They’ll treat him… averagely.”
The idea of Average Joe fascinates me.
“Average” is a word that Noah Webster penned as a middle point between the extremes.
Like Jefferson wrote beautifully, Washington stood proudly, Hamilton defended tirelessly,
But Aaron Burr? Nah, son. He was just average.
That was then.
To me, Average Joe is close to extraordinary.

How many people get to say,
“Welcome to KFC,”
A few days a week?
Now subtract the amount of people that aren’t teenagers
And divide it by the number of people not named David.
Next, count only those working at the KFC on main street,
Whose business is stolen by the Denny’s and literally every other restaurant just right up the street.
In that world within this world, Average Joe soars high above all.
It takes you back to the term, “don’t judge a book by its cover”.
Don’t just look at Average Joe, talk to him.
Because I’ve watched this guy watch me do his photoshop work,
And I swear he’ll never be in a fist fight.
I try hard to think of a time where I walked by him and he wasn’t smiling.
I almost believe that he came into this world with the biggest grin on his face,
proudly proclaiming “I am Average Joe! Bring it on, world!”

Frankly, my dear, he doesn’t give a damn what you think.
For all we know, he’s looking at every other person in the room, silently calling them “Average Joes”.
Because they lack the skill of choosing their own lives.
They lack the will to pursue their own dreams.
They never marched away from the wall, they keep it close.
It’s the only thing they know.
Don’t let the jerseys fool you.

They can call me tech support all they want,
Life, to me, is like I’m standing on the gallows waiting to finally stop breathing.
But before that, I’ll recite poems and scripts from memory.
I reread thank you letters I’ve engraved into my skin,
And when the time comes, I’m smiling because I’ve done all that I’ve ever wanted to do,
And frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.
If Average Joe lives life like he’s standing on the gallows retelling his favorite episodes of spongebob and quoting memes, watching Ashley scroll through “tellmewhyimbroke.com”,
And he dies, smiling; his inaudible way of telling every single person that ever doubted him,
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn,”
Is he still Average Joe?

To all of the dear ones, frankly, he doesn’t give a damn.
If this name is what he’ll wear on a “Hello my Name is (fill in the blank)” card
every time he enters Mr. Solis’ room,
Then he’s the most extraordinary Average Joe you’ll ever meet.
So, if you feel like you’re another fish in the sea,
An average Joe that people vaguely remembering passing by in the halls,
And the only picture of you in the yearbook is the I.D. picture they took without telling you not to blink,
Stand on the gallows…
Retell your stories…
Recite your poems...
And smile.
Smile like you just don't give a damn what they think.

credits

from My Life as a Dancing Rat, released November 11, 2016

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Johnny Rome Salinas, California

Poet, FIlmmaker, Author, Editor, Actor, Screen/Play writer, and Dancing Rat... If I can do anything being alive for 16 years, you can too.

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