Omar and Mirsad 4 August 2017

              (Mirsad and cousin 1983)

                             (Omar 1982)

                             (Omar 1982)

                            (Omar 1983)

A boy among men
In his skivvies watched
City which
Never slept,
     -Super's first born, freed
     -Association,
     -Kid, satyr,
     -Greek, man boy;
Cultures flake off walls,
Scuffed by soles, coat bare
Feet, swept up
In dustpan,
     -Layers peeled back from
     -First light's febrile dreams,
     -Dried slurry
     -Stiffening;
Tethered to boiler
Clicks, trash hauler wails,
Fumes from roach
Spray, PineSol,
     -Cologne, cigarette,
     -Beer head, gathered, bar
     -Congregants'
     -Pitched tones, spun;
Albanian vowels
Bruised, lamb, fowl, stewed, New
York syntax
Chewed, bones gnawed,
     -Meat and potatoes,
     -Blackboard, scoreboard, words
     -Bored home, first
     -Basement, seconds?
Forehead rubbing, robbed
Of anguish, blemish,
Streaking smudge
Souvenir,
     -Skeletal seams braced,
     -Face tapped, fault fractured,
     -Plates shifting
     - Each apart;
Larry's sneakers stride
Basement stairs, stop short
At mailbox,
Pedal off,
     -Posted sentinel's
     -Complicit notice
     -Of comings
     -And going;
Selves sung lockstep, night
Contained voyage out,
Worse for wear
Dodged shipwreck;
     -Comber with keeper's
     -Mien, left behinds
     -Prized, dropped change,
     -Lotto picks;
Triple planes, reversed,
Revered, reverted
To, ticket
Admittance,
     -Omar's collective
     -Breaths, lodged in doorframe,
     -Lessen, held
     -By pupil;
Detached regard, drill
Confident brandish,
Face off brims
Compliant,
     -Crayon charts terrain,
     -Lakes, elevations,
     -Depressions,
     -Thick forest;
Pipe played unravels
Basket sheltered snake,
Tongue flicking
Clench of teeth,
     -Pried off, stowed behind
     -Eyes, trusting child which
     -Coats surly
     -Teenager,
A feathers festooned
Frolic embodied,
Resulting
In stiff neck,
     -Strands fingering tossed
     -Off, brows, nose, mouth slashed,
     -Peacock struts
     -His plumage;
Mounted heads regard
Execution spelled
Out, body
Taken in;
     -Unmoored survivor,
     -Life raft sent adrift,
     -Attuning
     -The distance;
Generated heat
Disperses along,
Between, fuels
Compression,
     -How to hold a hand,
     -(Arms pinned), fingers to
     -Wiggle out,
     -Palm to read;
Sounds recall, squeaking
Cart rolled across, door's
Click, child's: 'Hot','
Adult's: '...hand...'
     -Head contoured, edges
     -Squared, light packed into
     -Crayon box,
     -Shadows cross;
Copy Larry, sleeves
Rolled, shirt unbuttoned,
Both hands stuck
In pockets,
     -An American
     -Gothic, pared, cousins,
     -Pruned, their growth
     -Spurts, pitted;
Special treatment shown,
Soccer jersey tugged,
Fingers left
To fidget,
     -You turned thirty-six,
     -Could conjure, exact
     -Defining
     -From within;
Safe to fall, failure
Moment's eclipse, pain
Polar bear
Ocean plunge,
     -Face to sell, hard fought
     -Fix made up, red dots
     -And iced rocks
     -Floating off;
Skeptic of rent-roll
Provenance, neck chained
Reliqu'ry,
Or flipped coins,
     -Black out distractions,
     -Pigment, linseed brushed,
     -Absorbing
     -Eloquence;
Guarded, carded, used
To bargain, win, when
Heated, to
Barge right in,
     -Hands burdened, door kicked,
     -Lights elbowed, things shed
     -Across, oils
     -Taken in;
That, left, launched back to
Father, bent, brother,
Blind, friends' brand
Addictions,
     -Wet board's paint danced, pulled,
     -Piloted over,
     -Unfurled to
     -Partner's lift.
   
  4 August 2017