911 Baltimore Avenue

 

 

A young black boy

 

      on his mini BMX

 

            waves at an old white man

 

sitting on his stoop.

 

      Aiming to impress

 

            The boy pedals fast

 

into shadows

 

      on the sidewalk.

 

            He pulls up on

 

the handle bars

 

      the front wheel clipping the lip

 

            of a crack

 

in the neighbor’s sidewalk

 

      uprooted

 

            by a Sugar Maple root

 

sixty some years ago.

 

      He pulls up again

 

            the back wheel

 

clips the lip of the crack

 

      launching him airborne

 

            into the wake of his inward eye

 

where both tires clip

 

      the coping of a fifteen foot ramp,

 

            throwing him  

 

into the evening sky

 

      suspended in grand allégro

 

            and worlds

 

further abroad.

 

      Collectively both tires

 

            clear to the other side

 

of the cracked sidewalk.

 

      Loungin’

 

            on his stoop,

 

the man smiles as the boy continues

 

      pedaling down the block

 

            out of sight,

 

as if he were exiting stage left. 

 

"911 Baltimore Avenue" was a finalist in University of Delaware's 1st UD Department of English: Random Acts of Poetry in 2014. 

http://www.english.udel.edu/programs/major/crwr/Pages/rap.aspx

 

Also published March 4, 2015 (modified) in -- The City Key  Click Here