Those were the Tang-bright 70s, the Revello days
knees grazed, skies so high 
and hazy with bonfire smoke - 

Who was that kid? the one 
who stuck things up his nose
and roasted his wieners 
with the plastic skins still on
just to see them shrivel.

They were summer people
dragged West with grandparents 
until they reached a mass 
sufficient to be wayward on their own.

That kid probably grew into
the kind of fella who talked
all sorts of shit about how 
condoms ruin sensation; but
would run a mile before
he ever stepped up.

Mind you, he also probably
did great as a dad, once
he realized the experimental
possibilities. He’d be the Dad of the Mantra:
see what happens.

They probably hang out together
in hammocks; dad lets son have
a drag - it’s not illegal, he’d say
to the exasperated angel huffing past
if his wife didn’t yet know better
than to just let him roll, the kid
is always happy with dad. 

They probably melt crayons
and microwave mangoes
and push enough limits
to get on ‘Fail Army’ but
only the ones where 
the victims are up for another go.

The Dad of the Mantra probably thinks
of Revellos, and, stoned to the gills
rhapsodizes to the son until they
have to empty all possible
combinations of dairy and sweet
and chalky chocolateness
into buckets and mix them
with hand drills, and stick
sawed-off two-by-fours into
the buckets, for which they have
emptied the chest freezer; they squeeze
these buckets of brown guck in, giggling
dappled with life, none the worse 
for libertine giddiness, skipping 
back to the kitchen where
the mango has exploded
and contemplating another project
whereby they’ll paint the walls, or the floor
or the dog, or perhaps the baby sister
the closest colour they can mix
to the caramelized fruit
dripping sweet misadventure
like a lure.

Missed a couple days, due to work and other good distractions. But this odd prompt, ‘crayons and other fictions’ or make a metonymy, preferably using ‘mango’ – well, okay. It took me to the Tang-bright 70s. Another great pixabay.com image here, this one from Natascha88.