uphills and downhills

two drop offs every morning,
two pick ups every afternoon
shoveling shoulder inflamed
and still
hoisting marcel up the two flights of stairs to
the purple room every morning
and afternoon
$65.00 more a week
worth it when I see
the brown skinned girl handing Sammy a crayon
who says you look like my brother
and I want to sit with
you at lunch.

learning the names of 18 new friends at the
new new school
(the kid has been through a few too many
of these these transistions..)
an accident on the playground
when he didn't know that you couldn't
get to the bathroom from
that door...

across town
clinging onto the picture of
nah-nah (big brother)
as he looks down the hall
where Sammy should be when
a little guy needs a hug before
nap


three andersons
on one sled
in full sunshine
in any empty
park we call our
backyard.

mom look at the crows!!
they are coming back-
because the snow is melting and they know
it will be springtime soon.
Welcome back!
We hollar in Anderson
unison
almost as loud as the
raucus
cau-caw-cus above
us

coasting along
with daffoldils
in glass jars
peanut butter and frozen peaches
for dinner
and Mommy telling her sons
how she met Claudette Colvin
at school today
the 15 year old girl
who didn't get up nine months
before Rosa Parks said
I've had enough
too.

Mom, I am taking a real bus
too,
on a field trip
next week
did you know that
I could do that?

I do love
yes I do.
And Claudette*
does too.


* Claudette Colvin(born September 5 1939), who some historians say is the "Mother of the modern Civil Rights Movement". In 1955, at the age of 15, she refused to give up her seat on a Montgomery bus to a white person, in violation of local law. Her arrest preceded civil rightsactivist Rosa Parks' (on December 1, 1955) by nine months.