poem

::::::::

for every passing car
up the avenue
early memory
announces itself

a stripped-down pickup football game
     my unexpected speed

a hot summer day in the middle of the ohio river
     swimming back from brunot island
     desperately floating
     not fighting
     the current

the steady rumble
     of a pinsetter's disrespect 
     for a ninth grade social studies teacher

an eighth grade history teacher who asks
"are there any jews here"

a half-dozen bee-bee holes in the windows
of franklin ice cream (lee & meadowbrook)

learning how to take a punch
before
learning how to swing back

it's alright ma

endless love illusions

still

more shark than jet

--- e b bortz

Authors Website: http://ebbortz.blogspot.com

Authors Bio:
Poems, essays, and stories by e b bortz have been published widely.