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Free Entry 2, Week 9

Young Hoods

Where would those boys be
if mother never set down the rules
for crossing streets on foot
or riding gear bikes past the pink stucco house?

No one would nab them anyway. They are too wily.
No one would ignore them either. How could you?
They throw granite at unidentified rear windows
when drivers speed past the rose bushes of 125.
If they deem you drive faster than 40 mph,
you will hear a crack.

These hoods lost too many dogs
to speeders in their neighborhood
of one circle and one court,
15 houses in total if you lose count
and count some twice.
They’re misguided hoods.

Speeders thump thump their dogs.
Their parents won’t buy cats,
yet they have to be in once the street light buzz
reaches its highest pitch.
If they see hood shadows from the street light
and not the sun, they might as well not come home.
Dinner is already paper plated and sitting in the microwave.
They’re already grounded and won’t see a meal like that for weeks.
The neighborhood is so small, the big cheese doesn’t even come inside.
The entrance is the bus stop and neither mom nor dad will drive them there.

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