ronny

i turn the corner and there’s the boy on crutches with one and half legs
and i flick the air conditioning on full as he crosses like a scrawny cat
his dirty t-shirt, a flag in my mirror

my wife makes dinner in 90 degree heat   sweat beads on her
cranberry face as the television plays in the living room for a slowly
dying fan

i am turning the corner and the boy on crutches takes the street with ease
and i can’t help thinking of the special olympics as he stops to adjust
a sock on his half limb   a ghetto blaster penetrates my artificial atmosphere

a sauce meal on a hot night and tomatoes remind me of blood; sausage, of
amputated fingers, as we drink beer from plastic cups   the garbage needs
to be taken out

as i turn the corner the boy on crutches needs a haircut in a neighborhood
that cannot afford pride   a dog jumps quickly out of my path as if this
moment had a certain meaning

she is daydreaming without a smile chewing riggatonies and home-made sausage
and i wish she had used more garlic as i pull something cold out of the fridge
and absently ask how her day went

i’m turning the corner and no rain is reported for the week (except for
thursday) and the boy on crutches does not look my way but i slow certain he
will cross the street

i look into soap suds and see a red film which has developed and my wife
lies on the couch so i pull out a yellow apple and find a small knife to
slice it

i had turned the corner when the boy on crutches was in the street and
i didn’t need to adjust my sunglasses to see that he was perfectly capable
of making it to the curb without my assistance

the apple is cold against my teeth and the fan makes a whining plea that
works into my cranium   these dormant sitcoms don’t fill
the void they created

once i had negotiated the turn the boy on crutches was thinking about a can
of root beer and there at the curbside he wiped sweat with his t-shirt as
though it would cool him down

 

Slipstream reviews with
michael baskinski

• Number 20. 2000
• Number 21. 2001

     Dan Sicoli (Niagara Falls, N.Y.), a past Pushcart Prize nominee, is co-founder and co-editor of Slipstream Magazine & Press, founded in 1980. His poetry has appeared in numerous litmags, e-zines, anthologies, and audio poetics cassette tapes including Chiron Review, All Shook Up: Collected Poems About Elvis, Main Street Rag, Bathtub Gin, The Butcher's Block, Nerve Cowboy, Thunder Sandwich, Iodine, 12th Panet, Monkey's Fist, Zero City, Jackhammer Lobotomy, and Alpha Beat Soup. E-mail: slipdan@aol.com

other online publications:

Disquieting Muses:
• http://www.disquietingmuses.com/May00/sicoli1.html
• http://www.disquietingmuses.com/May00/sicoli2.html
Thunder Sandwich:
• http://www.thundersandwich.com/ts12/sicoli.html
Stirring
Bulkhead
Naked Poetry
Erosha

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