POETRY ON MEDIUM

Portrait of David

my Lakota friend

David has been growing his hair for the majority of my life. I remember him telling me this as I drove the basketball girls back from a game.

now he tells me about the Spartan he ran, the Tylenol he took for the arthritis in his knee.

he bends it for emphasis.

“in a Spartan, you run more miles if you skip obstacles.” most or all things in life are like this.

David moisturizes his huge hands. fixes his hear. finds one final piece of gum in a nook in his bag.

while the other coaches lose their voices, David talks with his hands.

he grabs his phone. “do I owe you money?”

“Jackie bought one of my poetry books.”

having realized something about himself, he nods.

“one of the good things about having a wife is she urges you to get medical attention when you’d rather tough it out’,” he smiles, and I glance at his knee.

©Daniel, 2024

Check out my poetry book “Facial Features” here:

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