Reunion
Rain and rain and something close to living
The radio hums but it’s the silence we listen to
We know—our man floating stiff among the lily pads
Our boy of tobacco teeth, our boy of football bruise
No need to talk about it
Gather the driftwood, pour liquor into his eyes,
empty pus pools, beer bloat spreading his hands blue
tonight we pray to the ivory moon and talk of high school
the man a boy then
fishing the banks of the Brodhead Creek and spitting chew into a Coke can
the night rotten with heat and crickets
turn off the radio
shoo the flies from his lips
let him be dead in the morning
half-blooded and done singing of the good nights
Marlboro Lights and an Old Ford
those tires were hooves enough and we beat every inch of pavement we knew
Give me a lantern
the radio, make it play Chesney for old time’s sake
and we walk the length of Milton Lane
singing along until we hear our third voice.
Nick Stanovick is a graduate of Temple University, an alumni of Babel Poetry Collective, and a member of Temple University’s slam team which won the 2016 College Union Poetry Slam Invitational. His poems have been featured in Button Poetry, SlamFind, and SickLit Magazine. He is a lover of freezer pizza, Law & Order SVU, and laughing.