hey, hey

winter boy

crack your golden teeth on these southern bones

don’t you think it’s more impressive that i ain’t ever seen snow,

yet i can skate just as good as you?

i grown up on rough ice,

in a sketchy town

not your perfect new york lakes

or your shiny boston rinks,

with a cop at every corner.

i was green light-up wheels on black asphalt,

fake jersey that i made myself held together with hopes and dreams,

coverin’ up how my clavicle healed wrong

you were two-hundred dollar bauer skates on ice that could be mistaken for glass

custom reebok threads and not a single broken bone in your body

you had your twig custom made, ccm, slick fibreglass and carbon

softest white stick tape the market ever seen

i cut mine down with a table saw

old yellow medical tape and burnt-down candle wax on my wooden blade

you set your life on playing the left wing

and sure, you’re pretty good at it

but i can shoot a stingin’ wrister

i can tend net better’n the best goalie you never seen

i can skate center faster than hermes ever flew

‘n i can coach like the big league’s best

i can do anything you think you can, and i can do it better and meaner than you ever will

you know,

people like you shut me out of kid hockey

couldn’t make it to AAA til i was 17,

while you were just finishin’ highschool

and gettin’ drafted to san jose

just because i had black hair

had olive skin

a red bracelet on my wrist

just because i was short

because my body don’t look like yours

‘cause y’all ain’t think i was strong enough

but did any’ya winter boys ever learn to fight with anythin’ other than your words?