remembering 1982


these teachers of mine
sitting in the dim afternoon light
of a downtown bar with
my father

this man in a corner
muttering to himself that there are
too many niggers moving in

my third coke of the afternoon
almost gone

my hands still four months away
from discovering
the power of words

the anger they will feed on
for the next twenty years
already fully formed

Copyright © 2003 John Sweet