Urban Youth

Just a poem about finding something

In the summer

The girls were dressed so bright

we confused them for traffic cones

and our minds wandered like oil

across crooked pans of city blocks.

This is a road,

That leads elsewhere,

but from this position

it leads into the river

This is a highway

In the sun

Pumping blood

Through capillary streets

we could cross lines

Peeling tires like band aids

Like duct tape off of captive lips

reaching the open road

“so take a deep breath”

She said, and I did.

It didn’t help.