teenage Kawasaki in the rocky river
blackberry canes wrapped
round his bleeding head
paraplegic
older Filipina rehab night nurse
wakes his dick
precisely three times
joy, whopping joy, life-affirming knockout joy
ensuing fifty wheelchair years
produce no further bliss
but satisfaction of a sort
with work and cigarettes and vodka
shitting easy as anybody
wiping Herculean
shower Saturday ordeal
full ashtray patio Sunday
heart attack doctor
prescribes assisted living
our boy mutters he’d rather die
swears off eating, mistress alcohol
jokes with doting hospice nurse
who leaving strokes his hair
then, the final nap
safely around the curve above the rocky river
Ted Jean writes, paints, plays tennis with Amy Lee. Nominated twice for Best of the Net and twice for the Pushcart Prize, his work appears in Beloit Poetry Journal, PANK, Spillway, DIAGRAM, and North American Review.
