tough guy in moonlight
in 7th grade he sat
last row last seat
head on desk asleep Sister
Cleopha slapped
his ear he laughed her face red
hand
trembling on the playground no one
looked him in the eye afraid
to wake his hands
two furious stones tearing
holes in God’s light
seven years later I poured
drinks in a seaside bar I’d learned
to know a little
about a lot
could talk to the toughest guy who’d
be in the Series where
to find parts for a ’63
Impala how
he knocked that motheringfucking
bartender from down the street flat
out I gave him free drinks
to cool
the bad drunks
now he leans
on a thick
stick worn
smooth by broken
hand & muscled
weight the woman the nuns
warned 7th grade
girls they’d become if
they danced with the tough guy holds
his empty hand full
moon sways
him to her
light
street preacher
when I close my eyes I hear
the father’s voice not
his son’s as he cautiously becomes
man not
the spirit’s tongue
of feathers & fire I hear
continents grind
time’s big drum the voice of no
not what could or should not
being’s eternal quarrel
but when I speak a starling
argues
with its own
reflection
I know
one day I’ll open
my eyes see
his voice a pillar
of sound my breath
braids around & you
will stop & you
you & you
will listen
Frank Rossini has been published in various magazines including Poetry Now, The Seattle Review, and Wisconsin Review.
