i puzzled together
the last fading snow on the pavement
i stopped answering calls from back home
who wants to remember how we sat in the rain
after playing soccer
and could not tell
tears from rainwater
the drenched wood inside us
smelled foul.
in our parents’ absence,
handed-down rage walked in—
wasting a life others escaped
thankfully dekou’s self-death spared him
the fourth trip to South Beach’s prison
was not a good idea
for easier closure
2013—
after coming out to her foster parents
hawau was given to the street blades
shame made her dust first
domé coughed blood—
tuberculosis took what remained of him.
soul-jay was mobbed and drowned
childhood hands knifed others
and me?—
i am exiled
cleaned and breathing