F this and F that
One of the fringe benefits
……………………. of turning sixteen:
…………. a boy can tell the whole world
to get fucked and fly
…………………….down the street,
…………. as if his car were on fire
and the only way to put the fire out
…………………….is driving
…………. as fast as he can.
O fuck for when he opens the letter
…………………….that says exactly
…………. what he’s afraid it would.
Go fuck yourself
…………………….for when his father tries
…………. to persuade him
nothing will be different
…………………….now that his mother’s moving out.
…………. Motherfucker for the walls
that get in the boy’s way
…………………….in the hospital
…………. where his grandpop’s dying.
Fuck. The teeth biting into
…………………….the lower lip
…………. then the ck—just as good
as spitting into someone’s face.
…………………….Nothing else will do,
…………. Just when the boy’s sure
he’ll never be able to say what he feels,
…………………….this one syllable rises
…………. out of the great silence
all words inhabit
…………………….till they’re spoken.
…………. Fucking A! It’s the
kiss of a basketball
…………………….off the backboard.
…………. A key fitting
into the door he thought
…………………….locked forever.
…………. Light in a girl’s just-washed hair.
Fucking A. Once again
…………………….words
…………. had not failed him.
by Christopher Bursk
from The First Inhabitant of Arcadia
The University of Arkansas Press, 2006