Blackbird an online journal of literature and the arts Spring 2008 Vol. 7 No. 1

POETRY


WYN COOPER

Like My Friend
     in memory of Liam Rector

For some the advent of June
means longer days of sun (boring)
for others the loss of layers
of clothing, like my friend (a really good guy)
who hates summer, so dresses
from June to August in clothes (nice ones)
most of us reserve for fall,
which reminds him of going back (a lad)
to school, how what carried him
through hot Virginia summers
was the long slow thought (girls)
of wearing his school clothes,
walking down the wide halls,
smarter than everyone again.