Boys of These Men Full Speed
for Jane Cooper
Boys of these men
full speed across free,
my father’s boyhood eyes.
Sail-skating with friends
bright on Wisconsin ice
those years away.
Sails strung across their backs
boys racing toward
fierce bitter middle-age
in the great glitter of
corrupted cities.
Father, your dark mouth
speaking its rancor.
Alive not yet, the girl
I would become
stares at that ice
stippled with skaters,
a story you tell.
Boys of those men
call across winter
where I stand and shake,
woman of that girl.