​Blackman Redemption
for the many…  2014-2015

In no particular order and with
the understanding that the sonnet is
too short, there’s Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin,
Eric Garner and Dontre Hamilton,
John Crawford, Ezell Ford, Dante Parker,
Tanisha Anderson, Akai Gurley,
Tamir Rice carrying a toy pistol,
Rumain Brisbon and his pill-bottle “gun,”
Jerame Reid, Tony Robinson, and
Eric Harris, Philip White, and Freddie
Gray – there’s Walter Scott, who’s taillight was out,
shot in the back.  The sonnet is too short
and not nearly powerful enough to 
proffer redemption for these divine lives.




Who the Cap Fit
East Hartford, Connecticut
1957

To be sure that I’d fail I didn’t try
during try outs for Hartford Little League.
My father was the farm team coach, and that’s
where I wanted to play, though everyone
believed that going down to farm team meant
you weren’t any good, and just to prove it 
you didn’t get a uniform.  Instead 
you got a hat, a tee-shirt, and letters 
for your mother to iron on.  And by 
mid-season some of the letters were gone 
and some were hanging.  My shirt lost its “S,”
so all it said across the front was ELK,
which was OK ‘cause I could play with Dad,
flimsy shirt and a hat that was too big.