today i imagine you alive again

your green eyes chasing the world

i imagine you–really alive again

your rustic red kinky hair

rolled into tiny balls on your head

i imagine us sitting in that green Cadillac–1972

singing and dreaming Jackson 5–

 

every day i keep

the lessons you taught me housed

in my heart–

 

if i knew you could hear me,

i’d tell you, once again,

i wish you were with me in 1975 when

i graduated from high school; i wish

i could still reach out my hand to you

 

you were my best friend then;

you are my best memory now–

because you held me in view

friendship defined–I know

 

from I Am Black American: New and Selected Poems