10 Years Later…

There is something beyond the base –
Perhaps it is simple math
done by moving the decimal

Maybe it is as obvious as the 10 digits hanging
at the end of our arms when we are born.
Does someone missing a finger work better in nines?

Point being the term “decade” and it’s intrigue.
When freed from the VH1 confines
of loving the 1st integer and ignoring the rest
a decade can prove to be even more interesting
Did music change more from 1980 to 1990
or 1984-1994?

Music talk is for arguing. What about your life?
Surely no one’s life is tied to 0-9
but we can change dramatically in 10 years.

Perhaps we just like grouping things
in ways we can handle
We might live 80 years but 80 is too far out there.
Tell me 80 phone numbers from memory.
80 books you’ve read, 80 basketball players,
80 stories about your cute and hyper-intelligent kid(s)
Even our favorite topics don’t usually go 80 deep
Nor would you carry general reviews of each of your 80 years with you…
See 1983 was different from 1985 in many ways….. yawn….. ok grandpa.

A decade though? Well even the best of us won’t see more than 10 of those
More like 5-6 full of memories for most of us

So yeah, grouping things in 10 doesn’t bother me in the least
I just ask that you consider sliding your start and end points
and seeing what you find
I just found this, written about 10 years ago. Prescient, eh?

[“Synthesizer Man”, words by Andre Benjamin]

synthesizer,
microwave me
give me a drug
so I can make seven babies
pump my breasts up
can you suck the fat up?
please make my life appear
like ain’t no such thing as bad luck
my nose ain’t right –
think I need a new one
just take your pick
a yellow, red, black, or a blue one
virtual reality?
virtual bullshit
synthesizer preachers can reach you
up in the pulpit
who a bitch?
give me my gat
so I can smoke this nigga
tell his momma not to cry
because they can clone him quicker
than it took his daddy to make him
nigga’s bitin’ verbatim
thought provokin’ records
radio never played ’em
instant quick grits, new, improved
hurry hurry, rush rush, world on the move
marijuana illegal but cigarettes cool
I might look kinda funny but ain’t no fool
now if you wanna synthesize I empathize,
now if you wanna synthesize I empathize
but if you synthesize
I will understand
your synthesizer man