Sonnet for the Driveways of Our Childish Years
Curtis LeBlanc
Tom Howard/Margaret Reid Poetry Contest 2017 (view all the winners)
Honorable Mention, Margaret Reid, Traditional Verse
All the tennis balls that our Gretzky curves
couldn't guide past the taut rubber screen
of a shooter-tutor cratered garage doors.
Personal moons for the parties we missed,
where some young men made the porch-like climb
to violence. For instance: I knew a kid
who got pushed to bite the curb, lost his two
front teeth on the concrete foot of his own front lawn.
We heard stories like that everyday, dribbled down
the driveways of this Northern-most America.
Shaq's hand burned into our basketballs, dishing
high-fives to the pavement, eclipsing our palms.
Forced outdoors by our fathers and mothers,
we learned to forget each other and be alone.
