punching billy croce, age 6
the exhilaration
of two combatants
meeting center ring
and that’s what our big
concrete communal backyard was back then
a boxing ring
a baseball field
in the center of the stinking city
billy flying out of his backdoor
full of piss and vinegar
as i remember it
flesh on flesh
the hard stuff of the jaw
and the shoulder blade
the way billy squinted
when i boxed him on the cheek
rapid blows to the stomach
another hit to his head
the way his tears came on that
bright spring day in the year of our lord 1980
jimmy carter in the white house
and john lennon not yet dead
and then done
billy on his knees
next to a pile of dogshit
as philip and eric
got out the wiffle ball and bat
and those orange construction cones
that we’d pretend were
first, second and third base.
irma rides the late afternoon bus
irma rides the late afternoon bus
with all of the school kids
going home from after school
she says,
what are all you fucking kids
doing on the bus at 5:30?
irma says,
when i was your age i was already home
one of the kids tells irma
that they’re all acting in a play
and that they had rehearsal
every fucking one of you?
irma asks
it’s shakespeare
a girl dressed too thinly for the weather says
fucking shakespeare
can you believe that?
irma says to the rest of us on the bus
these kids are still doing shakespeare
and riding the bus at 5:30
like they’re goddamned brad pitt
when i was their age
i was already ready for bed
irma burps into the stale bus air
she smells like a six-pack
a bottle of cheap vodka and death
irma has an idealistic version of growing up
when the truth is
it’s always been hell
i’ll tell you about shakespeare
irma says, getting up from her seat
shakespeare was nothing but a hoity toity fag
in baggy pants and bells
then she stumbles off the bus
into the freshly minted night
puking by the bus stand
as the kids all watch her
like she’s some grand tragedy
a comedy
posted like a warning sign
by the side
of the road.
John Grochalski is the author of five poetry collections, three novels, and the novella Wolves of Berlin Play Amateur Night at the Flute and Fiddle Pub (Alien Buddha Press 2024). He currently lives in Brooklyn, New York.
