Remembering
by
Mea Cohen
Remembering isn’t about / how he heard metal on metal / body on tar / ringing in the ears / how the car blinker kept flashing / against the darkness / lighting up tree branches / around the intersection
Remembering isn’t about / the way the second car / hit the unseeable night boy too / right where he lay / then a third car / unbelievable
Remembering isn’t about / how the sounds of crushing / kept falling into the absence of real light / no more jawbone / hollow skull on the road
when he fled home / his father said / Son / You can’t stay here / late night talk on the radio / You’d better turn yourself in / he tried to respond / but all that came out of his mouth / something colliding in his throat / a small screech crashing through his teeth
He left his home / went back out into the night / cicadas singing at him / metallic cries / that’s what he’ll remember most
Remembering isn’t about / the way the second car / hit the unseeable night boy too / right where he lay / then a third car / unbelievable
Remembering isn’t about / how the sounds of crushing / kept falling into the absence of real light / no more jawbone / hollow skull on the road
when he fled home / his father said / Son / You can’t stay here / late night talk on the radio / You’d better turn yourself in / he tried to respond / but all that came out of his mouth / something colliding in his throat / a small screech crashing through his teeth
He left his home / went back out into the night / cicadas singing at him / metallic cries / that’s what he’ll remember most