was bright, white and clean; an advertisement

for fresh laundry, lady things, or whatever.

 

we watched him from joe’s garage, our music clanging;

hub caps and tin cans thrown against cement.

 

we watched his mother watch the car

that took him, saw her wave at nothing,

 

then, we took it from the top:

one, two, a – one two three four

 

First published in Oxford Poets 2010: An Anthology and collected in Tomorrow, We Will Live Here, 2010.