lights out, holy
re-scrambled, spinning into Florida. too young to laugh, too old to plead, like
begging a picture; an altar for courage, if but a mind-tavern, melting into
aesthetics; so unloved, so unhealthy, in a pair of hundred- dollar sneakers.
moving through
sights, hanging at graves, lit something too lethal.
by five knew what
freebasing is, by twenty-two his first kid, by thirty the nights looked
dangerous.
mobility at projects,
mouths opened, birds looking like angels. at developments rolling, sounds blasting,
doing like 20 mph—dipping slowly, blazing, drinking, too hurt to articulate it.
flipping sacks
like flipper, swishing swords like Zorro, a Hulk at resistance, a militant
mystic.
maybe her
countenance, so sad and savvy, so neat and dirty. music in islands, guarana all
morning, cocoa at noon. to love like parrots, to die like newly born, at
company asking questions. popped a sound, cracked a nut, spoke to winds.
money was
paramount, tentative, unrepeatable; eating unleavened bread, sipping American doctrine,
like flooding our environment.
most remember as
kids: “I’ll never smoke, or drink, why do yall do that stuff?” now it’s
different, pass the liquor, stop babysitting the joint—whisking through new precautions.
