_edited.png)
No, we can do better -- That summer
was so much more -- Summer
of swelter -- Summer of sickness
and last ditch efforts -- Starving
young summer of lost music
notes -- Summer of notes stacked
on notes that became song -- Summer
of bullet and blood -- Staccato
summer of hope -- Summer of rally
and riot -- Hysterical summer
of hope unheard. Summer of song
and brick and glass -- Summer
of consumption -- Half-forgotten summer
of fire -- Unsung summer
we all watched the life leave a man
under the weight of a knee -- Brambled
summer of tear gas and midnight amber
we will name until we get name right.
Patrick Wilcox is from Independence, Missouri, a large suburb just outside Kansas City. He studied English and Creative writing at the University of Central Missouri where he also was an Assistant Editor for Pleiades and Editor-in-Chief of Arcade. He is a three-time recipient of the David Baker Award for Poetry and 2020 honorable mention of Ninth Letter’s Literary Award in Poetry. His work has appeared in Maudlin House, Quarter After Eight, Bangalore, and MacGuffin. He currently teaches English Language Arts at William Chrisman High School.