By Catrice Greer
By Catrice Greer (Courtesy Photo)I think of you often
It’s been years
I think of you often
And I remember
You sitting on the stoop
With your boys,
your cousins
Doing what you knew
But wanting more
One day
After arrests, adventures, girlfriends
Missteps and babies
You turned 21
The sun was shining
It was your summer
And your joy drove circles
around Wilton Heights in your car
your favorite music blasting
lyrics reverberating
from every corner, fence post, doorknob,
and amplified in the hollow
of the only quiet nook in the horseshoe turn
Your girlfriend and babies
Just dropped off at your mom’s
Everyone waiting for you
To come inside
To celebrate you
A flurry of rattled off shots
19
From a fast swerving car
Spilling the life out of your sunshine
Cutting-off your sunbeams
slumped over a car steering wheel
All the hope seeping in puddles
I think of you often
choking back tears, holding my breath
So I don’t scream out— why?????
I miss
Your smile, young bravado, intelligence, questions
What ifs, and how comes?
Your joy
You
Wanting more out of your life
Making plans to be your best
And we’d talk
Second chances, new plans
Brother to sister, friends
You’d ask me how come I am so different
And I couldn’t understand how come you couldn’t see
We were the same
Just people living
I saw your heart
Beautiful gem
Gleaming
Miles away from weathered boards on windows,
Misperceptions, Spaulding, Palmer, Belvedere and
Street wars just to stay alive and feel alive in a world that didn’t
Understand your value
Stunted short
By gunshots, rivalry, and misdirected youth
3 strike rules, missed opportunities, and poverty that
Brutally entraps, forced by pressures unseen but well known,
Making decisions that bright little brown boys rarely grow up
with dreams of making
their lives less than the greatness they deserve
Wished you a happy birthday,
Seems like
I had just seen you yesterday, Gone, gone
And we miss you
everyday
Every minute of every hour of every day
It’s been years…