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bike rides
D.K.
Iowa fields tumbling by
in and out of summer weeks
I sailed down country highways
that loved me
and my 10-speed best of all
My ride arrived
without me
setting sail
in and out of years, free
range, free
for all
fleet-footed
unfussed
never fancy
no cover charge
no lifeguards
no gas stations
the walls toppled by the world all around
D rides a bike
he sees the black and white
swerves back down the block
splits traffic
ditches the bike
takes off on foot
He is running, running
but not fleet-footed
not free
They don’t call it a collar for nothing
This one gets the 16-shot salute
dies face down
limp lunged
They say he lunged
for the 9 millimeter
as it tumbled from a green towel
I say black becomes him
cap, gown, tassel tossed leftward
Sure, heaven has its share
of still-hot suppers
But the day he got his diploma
D ate cake
maybe for a moment remembered
his mom, remembered
broad South Central street
surge and swerve
never a windward day
W.M.
W pedals
faster and faster
down down down
spring sodden night alley
Once he gave the cops
his brother’s name
You don’t look
like a Henry, I said
You don’t look
like a Mexican, he said
So he got a ticket
for jaywalking
to grab a burger at Jim’s
I got a good laugh and
a nickname for W
Meth never made W mad
He still loved math
He just came around less
I can’t take a lecture, he said
Fair enough, I said
This wasn’t his hood
so a slow roll
in and out of weeks
became our good bye
That night
he veered sharp
but couldn’t outpedal
bullet barrage to the back
We thought he had a gun,
the cops shrugged
I pressed my face
into a chain link fence
I didn’t want anyone
to see me cry
W wasn’t one for sentiment
He only smiled
when I called him Henry
J.C.
You rolled up old school
to grab a bite on Avalon,
lanky-limbed on a
three-sizes-too-small dirt bike
Deep inside that hoodie
your stowaway smile flashed,
peppered peach summer sunset sky
I never took the rage for real
Like you always said
if you see them first
they don’t see you
Home was where that smile landed
so you kept it close
You pined for her
No-way-at-all that day on Avalon
and all the days since we first met,
or so you said
All pop-pop-pop and chivalry,
you never stopped pining for her
You stayed steady in your last
goodbye corner kiss
She never saw red light run through
You never not seeing her
wouldn’t couldn’t didn’t see
mundane magic of
potential, intelligence, college-bound
high school hallways & homecoming
A joke that I should even try
but see, I made you laugh, see
your flyaway smile again
Later anyone could see on video
cops cornering wild-eyed
crow-bar wielding kid
on someone’s front porch
Anyone could read how you
tossed the crow-bar aside
plucked purple-petaled aster
stretched your arm out toward them
more peace offering than surrender
But no one can explain
why they met that blossom
with mace, clubs, taser,
concrete bone crunch
No one can hear
your last gasp
as she reaches past the aster
grabs your hand,
smiling as you fall
through