After the Parade
After the parade passes by with oompah
bright horns gleaming in sun; blur
of twirling high stepping majorettes;
police cars the color of cherry lifesavers;
me and my best friend our hair tied
in red ribbons, wave miniature flags,
gaze down the empty street, once so full
of life now still as paradise after the fall.
In shadows of evening, her uncle’s fingers
come at me through the rhododendron,
squeezing thrusting, between my legs,
my face burning red red.
Fireworks explode above us in the park,
I hold my friend, she hugs me back tight,
each boom answered by our pounding
hearts as colors bleed in the night sky.
**
Published in Cape Rock Magazine April 2019
After the parade passes by with oompah
bright horns gleaming in sun; blur
of twirling high stepping majorettes;
police cars the color of cherry lifesavers;
me and my best friend our hair tied
in red ribbons, wave miniature flags,
gaze down the empty street, once so full
of life now still as paradise after the fall.
In shadows of evening, her uncle’s fingers
come at me through the rhododendron,
squeezing thrusting, between my legs,
my face burning red red.
Fireworks explode above us in the park,
I hold my friend, she hugs me back tight,
each boom answered by our pounding
hearts as colors bleed in the night sky.
**
Published in Cape Rock Magazine April 2019