photo from pixabay

Boys on Bikes

the summer 
of the boys on bikes

we trade 
toy diaries with locks 
& miniature keys

for soft-
skinned ones 
bound in leather

the charm 
of difference
we hide in new places

like a game of Clue
for the boys on bikes 

afterwards, an outbreak 
of bark beetles
cause nightmares 

on Elm street
we were 
never as pretty 
as we once thought

& lied 
to our diaries 

about the summer 
of the boys on bikes  


Sinkhole daddy said the sinkhole will take everything one day but he’s too busy chasing mermaids at Weeki Wachee to do anything about it the money daddy made wrestling gators at roadside stands could buy something solid but he bet it on Jai alai, lost, lost again & again & again, hatched a hairbrainer with his buddy Lou, Little Louie they call him to pinch a Gold of Kinabalu…