Showing Off

Or, Midnight Observations From my Balcony

What is this all strut and display
When teenage boys come out to play?
Is there some universal, unwritten rule
They must constantly prove they’re super-cool?

The younger boys whip out their cell phones:
If yours takes pictures and has GPS
Sends voicemail, e-mail, photos, and text,
Why, that’s nothing, that’s just the bare bones!
Look, mine has the features that you’ll want next.

Cell phones? Nothing but children’s toys!
There’s something much cooler for older boys,
And that’s a motorcycle, with which you try
To make a louder roar than the other guy.

It’s also cool, at night, to bellow;
Between smokes, to out-shout the other fellow,
To show off their voices, newly deep,
And keep their elders from going to sleep.

What makes teenage boys
Think making a lot of noise
Is an indispensible one of their ploys?
And what makes male adolescents,
Feel showing off is of the essence,
whether with voice or bike or e-mail?

It’s the adolescent female.