Playing in the Street by Anne Mesquita

There was a time the boys across the street,
age nine and eleven,

would ring our bell, a basketball under an arm.
Can Gregg play?

Never mind that Gregg was 52.
Like watching him age in reverse, slipping back into his youth.

As if we got to witness him playing in the neighborhood on Myrtle Avenue
as a child, playing ball, or cowboys with his buddies

in Vineland, New Jersey, circa 1948.
He spoke often about his aunt as if we lived with her.

Finally he called everyone,
even his daughters, Mom.



Anne Mesquita studies poetry at the Hudson Valley Writers Center. She is producing a collection about her father’s illness, grief, and coming-of-age. She works in Libraries Administration at Columbia University. She lives in Westchester, New York with her husband and daughter.