Interview Poem

 

Al

 

He sits across the bar table

From his former student,

A wheelchair bound late teen

When he taught him English

At the community college.

 

He’s come to interview him

As an alumnus for a book

The college is doing on its history.

He’s early 40s now, still boyish faced

With the same gleam in his eyes.

 

I DJ here four nights a week, he says.

It’s just before Christmas and the joint

Has a life sized Donald Trump cutout

Dressed as Santa Claus. The sound system

Throbs the latest bro country tunes.

 

I’m a lucky guy, he says. I’m married,

Got two children. The doctors told me

I wouldn’t live past 25, but here I am.

Mind if I get a shot of you in the DJ booth?

He scrambles across the dance floor.

 

Same as the old days, racing his chariot.

Back at the table, he asks him what do

You remember about the school?

You guys took me bowling one day at lunch.

I’ll never forget it. I wasn’t worth a shit.

 

But everybody was amazed that I could

Bowl from my chair. People on the other lanes

Stopped to watch me turn and fling that ball.

I took classes and got a degree. I was already

Who I am. That Day y’all let me know I was one of you.