Coco

contagious laughter sweet sticky summer nights

How do I explain

that doubled over laughter

none of us

can play volleyball but

all of us

can laugh

and s'mores

you asked me

what I was doing

I was doing

it all wrong

you said

there are swans all around me 

but they are blind 

or i am invisible 

and i don't know which

I think I live for the silent and still —

The friends you made against your will.

The evening light,

The morning mist,

The impossible odds that you even exist.

They call it “the hood.”

We call it family.

They call it “ghetto.”

We call it culture.

It’s loud — but it’s home.

The ice cream truck rings at the same time every day.