The Boys

The Boys


tied rebel yells to their truck antennas
when they cruised the loop at Sonic.
They drove up slow and made sure
they weren’t alone before turning in.
Couldn’t be too safe from gangs,
they said. If they caught a black kid alone,
they’d drop off their girlfriends for safety
and follow him, force his car into the parking lot
of the old Jitney-Jungle, two, three trucks
full of grinning, yellow-toothed white boys
with bats, brass knuckles, wrenches. A couple
carried ropes for a joke. Mostly, they’d laugh
while the black kids beat feet.

In the school parking lot, they untied the flags
from their trucks so they wouldn’t be suspended
and stalked the halls bragging
about the tooth-necklaces
they were going to collect as soon as somebody
stood his ground. They talked about
getting tattoos but couldn’t decide between
crosses or flags—they needed something
to set them apart.
They’d never hide their dignity under hoods
like their daddies, they said, never march
on city hall to be ridiculed.
They smoked cigarettes
in the parking lot, picked fights
with the skinny freshmen,
but dropped their eyes
when the older black kids strode by.


C.L. Bledsoe

Posted over on Pank Magazine