a note to my son

Just wanted to let you know that I took the Udon,
Someone killed off the Ichiban and rice noodles,
And someone ate all of that dish you made,
With the noodles and chicken and spinach,
So you guys need to go to the Asian food mart,
When you have time, maybe before lunch.
Your brother and sister have been eating so much,
Not as much as you, but man, can’t keep anything around,
But that’s good, you older ones are hitting puberty,
And the four-year-old’s always had a good appetite,
You guys eat almost as much as me,
Little eating machines, just like their dad.
School’s just around the corner, like five weeks,
I want you to start getting ready, prepare yourself,
You need to learn your music for marching band,
I think the first game’s at the end of the month,
And since you’re section leader, mr. mellophone,
You need to get ready to lead and play.
Speaking of play, are you still doing soccer?
If so we need to start running most everyday,
Practice your kicks and start lifting weights,
Work on your footwork, learn a few tricks,
Junior varsity’s a bit different than frosh sports,
Especially since you’re so small, since you’re so short.
Just keep in mind that eventually you’ll grow,
You’ll probably’ll be taller than me before you know,
But you have quickness and lots of heart,
And the last bit can’t be taught or bought,
You either have it or you don’t so use it,
But just have fun most of all, that’s what matters.
Your age is the toughest age, the hardest of all,
All the pressures from family, friends, school,
Pressures from within and without and who knows,
But if you ever need to talk, have any concerns,
You know you’re mom and I are always here,
Always willing to listen and to talk about whatever.
And now for something much more serious--
I need to talk to you about skatingboarding,
I’m semi-fluent in that language or used to be,
I’m not up on all the latest slang or lingo,
But now that we’ve made some progress,
We need to think about what’s next.
You learned how to roll on the board,
Rode banks of all sizes and shapes,
You figured out pyramids and hubbas,
Getting a lot more speed, riding without falling,
At least more of the latter than the former,
And you finally started carving.
The look on your face coming out of that half-bowl,
Was worth a million and one words,
I didn’t even need to tell you that you hit it,
When you finally carve, right away you just know,
And at that moment if you weren’t hooked,
I would have just let you walk away.
So you can hold your own with all the rest,
But now comes the time when you’re put to the test,
You need to get your kickturns dialed in,
Next up after that is dropping-in,
We didn’t start this thing up just to do flippy-tricks,
We wanna ride the bowl, we wanna hit the lip.
Carving in the corners, flying over the hubbas,
Catching major speed down the banks,
Speeding back up, trying to pop out,
All of that is fun, don’t get me wrong,
But the bowl has been the reason all along.
All the skills that you have learned so far,
Or the ones that are only a few months away,
All done for the sake of the bowl gods,
To satiate their hunger, to tame their thirst,
To prepare the mental, spiritual and physical,
For riding the wall, to get us both vertical.
Baby steps, little steps, sometimes leaps,
Letting you progress at your own pace,
Learning from your spills and slams,
But going right back again, just as I am,
A small microcosm of the bigger picture,
Racing against time, facing the end of summer.
The martial art of the board, ingrained,
Learning from doing, from moving,
Hardening your shins, knees, elbows,
Thickening your skin from sun, wind and slurs,
Toughening you up, working on your nerves,
Realizing that within resides your try foe.
When will you let go, when will you trust,
It will come with time, will come with practice,
Something that only you can decide,
Only you can break through the barriers,
Erected by you, by me, by society,
Only you can decide who and what you want to be,
Ride and glide and find those lines,
Soul-searching young shredder of mine,
Only you know when it is time, or what you will find.