Dancing Bear

Casey



who could swing a bat better than most
dive into home like a pro
pick up earthworms
and skip rocks with the best of them
Straight blonde hair
freckles and Dodgers cap

I don’t think any of us knew
what we were looking at

but Casey showed us
we all looked to touch

That afternoon lasted a lifetime
all of us giggling, pointing
splashing about the pond

we were all naked, unashamed
no embarrassment
still too young to have been trained
for those responses

and still at an age when she being a girl
didn’t change things forever

Foster Child

(to Karen H., wherever you are)



twenty years later
I still think of you

Labels are so easy
you wore yours hard
(and who wouldn't)

"Whore"
inferior
terrible thing – labels 
labeled at hard thirteen
yes, you were "easy"
by your own admission

Abandoned
without roots
starless
moving from home to home
always with a new rules
none the same

I understood

You wanted love
(and who wouldn't)
no reason to love yourself
going from boy to boy
man to man
looking for anyone to love you

Alone

In a world of formal pretending
copper-skinned "troubled girl"
my parents gave refuge to
after running away,    again
Paper-pushing, label-making
process-by-the-book county clerks
letter-of-the-law social workers
would not let you stay with us
even if
this was the only time I remember you smiling
Alone, bruises, damage, suffering
wary of people
you did not want a male friend
(and who would)
but we talked
we talked
and I understood

I guess you expected me
to try and "make" you
(and who wouldn't)
so you could distrust me too

I never did

I understood

How I Learned to Fight Bullies

(With Regards to Andre L.)



Did your mother know?
How you treated others
Did she teach you obscenities,
to pick on the other kids
-- a proud Ma Parker

No.  You may not 
have my lunch money
not today or any other day
so you jumped me in the halls

You didn’t expect the cut lip
bruise above your eye 
you won
but never bothered me again

After that, I stood up for every little guy
knowing you would not fight me

I gained respect
you remained the bully
I ran for class president
you remained the bully
I was invited to every party

you remained the bully
wielding everyone's fear

No one could understand it
expecting me to get my ass kicked
you backed off, again
with obscenities and curses, of course

I knew and so did you

I had no fear