Sherry Chandler » 2005 » November » 10
Two Day
Johnny Eagle
smells like cat pee.
Momma’s drunk.
has been for three days.
Daddy one is dead,
two in jail and three…
at his girlfriend’s trailor.
I make the required call,
knowing the outcome.
I feed him,
give him my nephew’s outgrown coat.
It’ll be worn until stiff,
then thrown away.
During the science video
I hold him.
he tells me he feels
like a kitten at bathtime.
At last bell
he shoves a note in my hand
then boards bus 44,
waving, grinning.
Yellow and black
disappear behind houses
across the street.
I wonder if he will eat tonight,
Tomorrow?
Then I unfold
the sticky piece of him.
“Teacha tank u for two day.”
— Wanda D. Campbell [first published in Rogue Scholars, Jan. 2005]
This post was written by sherry
