Somebody’s
Son
by Lesléa Newman
was
stashed in the doorway
like trash
nobody had bothered
picking
up. A grown man
curled on
his side
one arm
bent behind his back
at an
ungodly angle
as if he
were reaching up
to scratch
that spot
between
the shoulder blades
that’s
impossible to reach
when
you’re itchy and alive
one
bloodshot eye wide with surprise
somebody’s
son, whose tongue
was
lolling out, whose white skin
was caked
with grease and grime
so thick I
could have traced
“wash me”
on his back
as if he
were a sooty moving van
but he was
the only unmoving thing
on that
hustle bustle street, 5:00 p.m.
corner of
Seventh Ave. and West 59th
hordes of
people spilling out of buildings
everyone
getting off work at once dying
to get
home, kick off the heels
loosen the
tie, relax with a stiff
one,
nobody had a New York minute
to help
out somebody’s son
who stayed
still as a stop sign
as the
city swirled around him
his pocked
cheek cradling
the sweaty
concrete step
his
flattened feet folded
like two
fallen wings
his faded
blue jeans stained and holey
somebody’s
son, maybe yours?
maybe
mine? surely he was somebody’s son
once upon
a time
* * * * *
"Somebody's
Son" copyright ©2018 Lesléa Newman from Lovely (Headmistress
Press, Sequim, WA). Here is a book trailer for Lovely:
Lesléa Newman is a poet, fiction writer,
essayist, children’s book writer and anthologist whose 70 books include the
poetry collections, Still Life with Buddy, Nobody’s Mother, Signs
of Love, and October Mourning: A Song for Matthew Shepard (novel-in-verse)
which received a Stonewall Honor from the American Library Association. Ms.
Newman’s literary awards include poetry fellowships from the National Endowment
for the Arts and the Massachusetts Artists Foundation; the Burning Bush Poetry
Prize; and second place runner-up in the Solstice Literary Journal poetry
competition. From 2008-2010 she served as the poet laureate of Northampton,
Massachusetts. Currently she is a faculty member of Spalding University’s
low-residency MFA in Writing program. A recent poetry collection, I
Carry My Mother, received the 2016 Golden Crown Literary Society Poetry
Award and was named a “Must-Read” title by the Massachusetts Center for the
Book. Her latest book is Lovely (Headmistress Press, Sequim, WA).
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