coffee and thee, six twenty

i'm awake
i'm drinking coffee
i'm thinking

i had in my mind
my brother had said dad told him
tales of uncle remus
and
that seemed wrong
i don't remember anything like that
and
it kinda upset me
what was he trying to say
but then i remembered something

oh don't throw me in that briar patch

he did tell me that story
it was a teaching story
about telling the bad guy something
using reverse psychology
and their own stupidity
lack of any ability to see beyond
the fear and pain they wanted to induce
lack of understanding of any other point of view
using that against them
to protect yourself

but then
i thought
if i tell him that story he's gonna think you're trying to tell him something
but then i thought
this is an important thought, don't lose it because you're afraid he'll take it out of context trust him
so don't take it that way, ok
i'm not trying to tell you anything
i'm just talking about
a realization
which
semms
like a multi-layered realization

i mean, i know, i already figured out
my brother got different stories than me
different platitudes
things designed to help him with his problems
and i got different things designed to help me with mine
and
he did all his parental stuff like that
very metaphorical
or philosophical
and
there's a way in which that wasn't enough
but there's another way
in which it was the best thing

but
that whole idea
of teaching life lessons
through fairy tales
which is sort of a misnomer, really
of course the enslaved people would tell children stories
that would not overtly teach children coping strategies
and
i'd really like to read those stories
without the white presence

but then also
did my brother get that story too
or was that about it being a man's world

i'm kinda fascinated
by this whole train of thought

and
so
it's not that i'm trying to tell you anything with it
i'm just like sharing
the thoughts
that are grabbing hold of me today


but
when i called it coffee and thee, six twenty
that does sound like this is about us, specifically, somehow
but
it's more like
coffee + thee + chatting over the coffee, see