Wings (Wings)

A Reckless Worship (Johnny Levy)

Can You Hear Me Momma? (Tiffany Caday)

Can you hear me momma?
It happened again, it never stops.
You were so fragile, so over it.
The screaming, the sounds of his fist as it connects to your face.
Silence.

Father's Touch (Johnny Levy, Slam Poems Editor)

I was an asthmatic kid

And when I got sick

It was like breathing through

A wet afro in my windpipe.

The panic, the agony,

My own lungs

Strangling me.

Will the next breath

Happen? Can't think like that.

Just keep breathing,

Like heaving thousand pound rocks

With my chest.

When Are You Coming Home, Dad? (Levi)

Hey dad I was wondering what your last thoughts were? What were your final thoughts as you lived up your final day on that artificial respirator in the ICU of that shitty hospital that we would joke about as we drove by it? What was your final thought about us? Did you wonder if I would graduate on time? Did you wonder what we would do with your belongings? Did you wonder what it would be like for us to cope with this emotional turmoil you put us through?