From Brother to Brother

Dedicated to Kenny

"Your boots should be forworned, my brother,

that far away from lilacs

they will travel...

for I promise you the body

can be worn just like anything else

live where there are others

for the desert breaketh

many a sole

and travel not too far from

your mother's sun

or you will turn to ice

like Shaharazade,

you have always kept your life through stories

two stories

and the same four walls

for eighteen years

Grandpa built his in Fridley

now you go out West to build your own

we lived it all together, you and I,

muddied our souls on ten mile hikes

through the North woods

learned to be carryon

to keep vultures at bay

and when you woke up screaming

I whispered it is only a mirage

for University Avenue never gave you a degree

but you have learned your best lessons there

(like how to sneak pizzas to the homeless

behind the Little Caesars how to love God

and how to hate him how to pray

with your eyes wide open and

never lose your change)"

last night I woke up weeping again

and you asked me what was wrong

I told you the bones in my feet

feel like icicles shooting through me

you replied "that is how it feels

to leave orbit the first time

but you will spin on

because you have endless filament within you

and eight feet made for walking

you have new stories to tell

and there are people who want to hear them

and if you keep to the truth and

do not lose the scent of lilacs

your boots may just make it all the way"