this is my ash and her friend of 20 years






















seeing this image gets me thinking
...of my life and the friends with whom ive shared time
over the years ive chummed with many guys
all who remain important to me but are no longer part of my life
...shit happens and life goes on
two in particular are:

skee van dee in grade school
we created codes in our headquarters
and stuffed envelopes for extra dough

android, who saw me ebb and flow between
grade 11 nerd and crestfallen divorced guy
we played ping-pong
listened to nazareth and barry manilow
worked for happy cooker catering
got drunk at his parents cottage
he was with me the day my ash was born
and there when i dropped my wedding ring
down the ice-fishing hole
[we might have been drunk then too]




















all growed-up bern's good friend is jiff
we met in '97, grinding it out as managers at the same
soul-sucking life-controlling black-hole of a restaurant
run by an egomaniacal self loathing sycophant
[[whoa, i guess i really needed to say that out loud]]
dont get me wrong
besides the hellish hours and shitty compensation
we were living la vida loca

anyhoo

jiff and bern;
two schmoes trying figure shit out
we camp and shoot stick
exchange food thots and (used to) run 10k's
commiserate, congratulate
and after too many pints belt out
barry manilow's "looks like we made it"


















i dont use the term "friend" loosely
hermit boy has never been one to collect friends
[when i was a kid one of my many collections was stamps
...now, other than dvd's, i only collect dust and anecdotes]
as such, im not fond of the superlative "best" for friend
and dont even get me started on BFF

i am though, as it pertains to my sibs,
quite fond of "big", "little" and "baby":

this is my big brother frank


















this is my little (?) brother paulje
















this is my baby sister michelle


















and ...this is me and frank in '67
in costumes mom hand-to-mouth made for us
this is an hommage to mom and my big brother
with a subtle tangental segue reference to errol flynn























cuz ...this is me just thinking out loud here:
how come when a girl has a girlfriend its bff
and when a boy has a boyfriend and its gay ...huh
i'm not saying i wanna call me buds boyfriends
...i'm just saying

life sure is queer ...i mean, puzzling


bern shares
bv)