1
Young black man, shirt stretched tight across his
shoulders, muscles undulating, lanky legs moving
suavely from car to car as he leans toward the glass,
as he offers anemic bouquets to drivers at the light, by
the ramp, who tap fingers at the sight of backed-up
cars on the concrete headache just above.
Too young to be freeloading, they say. Young
black man’s white-teeth smile is supple, a band of light across
his dark. Too young, too healthy for sympathy, they
say and turn away. Should be throwing footballs at
the high school or the park,
should be throwing out his cardboard sign, grimy
hand-scrawled bit of corrugated crap that lies: “Please
help a vet. Hungry, sick.”
He taps his black finger on rolled up windows, flashes his only
whiteness, smiles with lips pressed tight when driver after
driver at the light looks away and pretends he isn’t there.
2
Young black man, prickly blanket spread between two
cans, lanky legs tucked beneath old sheets layered
on for warmth, candle in tuna tin shimmying near his arm,
offers bottle to the khaki man in sleeping bag,
his nighttime meal on a piece of rag pinned down with
stones as he fumbles in his pocket for a spoon.
Young black man’s smile lies dark. Too young,
they’d said, too young to go, to fight, too young
to die so far away. Should be throwing footballs in
the college down the road instead. Sympathy wasted on
him then, absent now since who knows when.
His hand-scrawled sign lies face-up in a puddle
near his head. He coils his blanket like a jelly roll, discipline
remembered. Young black man vomits out his soul,
rubs his fingers on closed eyes, blotting out the day, the red
desert nights, rattles and shouts, then prays with lips pressed
tight, pretending he was never there.
Thelma T. Reyna is the author of The Heavens Weep for Us and Other Stories (2009, Outskirts Press). It was selected as editor Marcela Landres’ Book of the Month for Powerful Latinas in July 2010. It has been well-received. Reyna’s stories, poems, essays, and other nonfiction have been published in literary and academic journals, literature textbooks, anthologies, and in regional media throughout the years.
Reyna writes the blog “American Latina/o Writers Today” and is listed in the Directory of Blogs by Latinas. She is also a contributing blogger to “Powerful Latinas”
Reyna is an adjunct professor at California State University, Los Angeles, and has also taught at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona (CA). She owns an editing/writing consultant business, The Writing Pros, based in Pasadena, CA (http://www.TheWritingPros.com ). She serves as a City Commissioner in Pasadena and was a longtime public school teacher and administrator.
Her second book of new and collected stories is nearing completion. Contact Reyna at her website.