YOUNG MEN IN WHEEL CHAIRS

War doesn’t end in cool death or hip life, / war can end with you

scrounging like a dog in a garbage can / scoring a blunt from a fine legged wonder

Books by Lee Meitzen Grue:

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Young Men in Wheel Chairs

By Lee Meitzen Grue

discarded plastic cups and Church’s chicken bags

roll along St. Claude Avenue.

Nomads,

fierce and proud

or hang dog, flat-feet shuffling

endless asphalt,

crawl

turf conquered by some new war lord.

A bullet in the head kills, a bullet

in the spine adds another

two-wheeled wanderer to the streets

regular but slow.

War doesn’t end in cool death or hip life,

war can end with you

scrounging like a dog in a garbage can

scoring a blunt from a fine legged wonder

who laughs, and calls you, “My main man,” as you

wheel off on a snail’s trail home

to Mama

waiting to change your diaper.

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