Poem 25
I almost ran over this boy … one of his siblings called his name and that specific name lassoed him back into himself before it would have been forever hollow … the arrow layout of the first two stanzas is to suggest movement forward and back …
( … in the beautiful blue afternoon wavering like a stem – I’ve always thought that was lovely … )
Close Calling
Samoan name dropping like a hoop out of the sky onto the kid taking his last step/ third step over the white line Samoan name wakes him in the middle of the road obvious really great big white car going to kill him he dodges back you've got to admire the reflexes most kids go forward and we punch through the bit of space I last saw him in he's perhaps a couple of inches off to the side somewhere round the back door thinking of running already starting to run I bowl him down in my dream by the hundreds reaping that third step out of a bloody field of names his name called him still sleeping in the beautiful blue afternoon wavering like a stem the thump that I dub in hoop of his name spinning slowly down empty on the road