When I was just a kid I thought I was a pretty clever guy I read a bunch of classic fiction like Doesevskoy For a little extra fun I indulged in nonfiction On my bookshelf you would find Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein I recall about 100 stupid pages in Les Miserables about Napoleon's saddle chaff I insisted upon reading it unabridged just to be safe And I read it with the thickness and the swiftness of molasses I had 50/20 vision but I didn't have my glasses It happened bit by bit I had grown a little wiser And I wondered if the book of IT still ended with a spider That was IT That was IT I started reading Stephen King and I gave up on everything That was IT That was IT They punched that stupid spider then that one guy jumped inside of it That was IT Salem's Lot started spooky and it got me Feeling nervous feeling anxious in my body I was an absolute dumbstruck wreck Until he mentioned two puncture wounds upon her neck I'll stay up late and read a Stephen King that I do not enjoy Because it's still entertaining to me Exposition don't mean nothing just give me the narrative No fruitless language or poetry The novel IT was written the year that I was born So I can't critique too harshly on these pages so well worn But there's plot holes subversion mistakes and divergence And things you can't explain But I forgive you Stephen I know you were drunk and on cocaine That was IT That was IT I started reading Stephen King and I gave up on everything That was IT That was IT Shawshank Redemption and Green Mile make his other works seem juvenile That was IT And I bet you didn't know he wrote Shawshank And I bet you didn't know he wrote Green Mile And I bet you didn't know he wrote Stand By Me And I bet you didn't know he wrote your favourite movie I'm thankful for the authors and I'm grateful for the time I've spent Getting to know their art and getting to know myself again Thank you Mr. King you brought me reprieve