Friday, July 27, 2018

Curbside on Uncle Willy's Street by Grace C. Ocasio

this chubby boy in a red cotton T-shirt
insinuated himself into my space.

He wore this look, flailing like a flag,
as if he'd never take it off.

I placed my hands like blind slats
in front of my eyes.
Shreds of his red shirt
shot through the gaps
between my fingers.

The stink of red
clung to my nostrils:
this boy whispered in my ear
words rank as chitterlings.

When I got in Dad's car,
I rolled my backseat window down,
inhaled enough fresh air
to last me a year.



Grace C. Ocasio’s poetry manuscript, Family Reunion, received honorable mention in a recent Quercus Review Press Contest. A Pushcart Prize nominee, she placed as a finalist in the 2016 Aesthetica Creative Writing Award competition and received a 2014 North Carolina Arts Council Regional Artist Project Grant.

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