7, by the Side of the Road by Kathleen Klassen

                      ​  Kaoru CC



7, by the Side of the Road


alone
you left him
by the side of the road
basketball crushed between 
jutting hip, creased elbow     his hand 
held the rain, 7-year-old face, a smudge of dirt
    
or was he 17?
promises leaking 
through calloused fist, clenched
knuckles          face, a taint of nicotine 
basketball replaced by hard drink, fast 
friends, fast foods, frozen fries, colder lies

maybe he was 37
his own son waiting
on DNA party games 
like hot potato, hopeful 
that the music wouldn’t stop on his genes
where mashed potatoes clung resentful starch

might have been 57 
with clogged mouth 
vocal cords and arteries 
sputtering chip crumbs, tarred gums
little boy blue with a bottle of booze 
two speechless lazy-boys, smokes & a t.v. tray

and you
far away 
as the man-in-the-moon
wonder why your empty hands 
fill with floods, torrents of silence
and by the side of the road, you are left, alone

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​Kathleen Klassen was an Ottawa high school teacher for over 20 years.  A new writer who discovered poetry as a source of healing after an injury, she has been published on Bywords.ca, passagerbooks.com, with In/Words Magazine and Press and looks forward to upcoming publications with Alternative Field and ottawater.