Issue 13 Poetry

Still Life with Black Boy’s Face Overlaying Project Buildings

By CORTNEY LAMAR CHARLESTON

Hall of Famer Frank Thomas, from 1990 to 2005,
hit 448 home runs over the fence for the White Sox

with the notorious Robert Taylor Homes standing just
beyond ballpark grounds across the Dan Ryan Expressway:

the high-rises, bruises against the city-flag-blue sky,
eyesores.

Still Life with Black Boy’s Face Overlaying Project Buildings
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What’s Goin’ On?

By JONATHAN MOODY 

ca. 2008

 

On Marvin Gaye’s birthday, the D.J.

introduces “Sexual Healing” as the sole song

responsible for why some of his listeners exist.

If he & his wife were having trouble conceiving,

he would’ve skipped over the cliché

the way he skipped over the details

of Marvin’s tragic death, the way elders

can skip over real talk: like how, in their day,

producing classic records was as easy

as producing children.

What’s Goin’ On?
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