CHORES

From “Concrete Fields”

Before the echo of the leather ball
bounced against pavement –
before pushing the screen door open
to the unexplored prairies of the avenue –

my father woke me each Saturday at dawn
as though he didn’t rust the sun. Waiting
was a country mile of sidewalk in my backyard
and the handle of a broom.

He called his my opportunity
to work the fields of the city.
It was here he inspected my duty
like an officer of the highest order.

Trailing my footsteps, his eyes snaked
along the ground for the slightest particle
that didn’t belong. Watching the sweeper
attack with straw, the rigidity of concrete.

It was always a matter of will. The gravitational pull
of a warm bed. Words fighting to emerge
from safe, barren pages. A relentless excavation
with my father’s eyes in back of my head.

Young Lions

(for Michael, Brandon, Jeremy, Evan, Nick, Noah, Lance & Ben)

From “Ferris Wheels”

I dream one day to see

a universe,

where our Black children

never have to hide.

Where hoodies are a fashion

not a curse,

Young Lions roaming freely

with their pride.