right hand pointing

for James Walter Sincere
(November 15, 1949 – November 22, 1968)

Quang Nam, Viet Nam

East Hartford, Connecticut

 

I found a box that seemed just the right size

to fit both of your blue buttondown shirts,

and your battered old copy of Thomas’s

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog,

stolen inexplicably from the school

library at East Hartford High. I think

it had to do with your presumption that

Bob Dylan and Dylan Thomas had some

cosmic connection that included you.

I also sent you Blonde on Blonde that day.

I mailed the box at 10 a.m. and by

3 Suzanne had told me that you were dead.

And for years and years I’ve wondered who got

your box and did they love the stuff inside?