East Hartford, Connecticut
                  1961

I threw bricks at the windows of the school,
and I stole a plastic skeleton from
the Prospect Drug just before Halloween.
I started smoking Kents when I was 12,
and when the Scout leaders had trusted me
to sort the uniforms in the basement
I thought it would be a good idea to
dress up like a Girl Scout and make Greg laugh.
Of course I got caught in my skirt and blouse
by Father Shanley, who called me a snake.
They finally tossed me out in the eighth grade.
The vibrations of the Beach Boys were good,
but years would pass before I really knew
what the positive ones were all about.

—
John L. Stanizzi is the author of Ecstasy Among Ghosts, Sleepwalking, Dance Against the Wall, After the Bell, and Hallelujah Time!  His poems have appeared in American Life In Poetry, Prairie Schooner, Rust + Moth, The New York Quarterly, Rattle, and others.  He teaches literature at Manchester Community College.  Find him online at johnlstanizzi.com.

The train’s grave whistle
ascends from every tree in the valley
spreads out in the sky everywhere at once
and I move quietly
through mansions of light
ascending along the clay road
dreaming all day
of impossible journeys

I’ve always done this

And as each light in each window pales
I wake and return
to the clay road
and a night sky full of holes
a reminder of what I chose
and what was chosen for me
as if they are somehow different

—
John L. Stanizzi — author of Ecstasy Among Ghosts, Sleepwalking, Dance Against the Wall, After the Bell, and Hallelujah Time!  His poems have appeared in Prairie Schooner, The New York Quarterly, Rattle, and others.  He teaches English at Manchester Community College. Find him online at johnlstanizzi.com.