SUSAN GERARDI

BOYS DRESSED AS MEN

I am not done mourning.

The boys dressed as men
in their charcoal grey and black business suits
Some of them wearing them well
Some of them not wearing them well at all,
better off in jeans and a tee shirt, sweats and a cap

Boys who would check themselves out
in the windows of the buildings
on their way to work
Some stealing an awkward side glance
Others staring themselves right in the eye
and nodding their heads in approval

These self-proclaimed knights of New York
These men of thirty two
But boys really

Boys who played baseball in Central Park after work
or ran hoops at the local gym
Boys who met ya at happy hour and made ya laugh hard
at yourself and at them,
not afraid of saying it like they thought it was,
not afraid of being too loud or out of line
Boys you’d want around on your best and worst day

I am not done mourning the boys dressed as men
whose final moments were spent standing in broken windows,
clinging to the walls of a building that would betray them
Side by side like so many days spent at work
and so many nights at play
Staring out at a city unable to save them
a city aching to embrace them

I am not done mourning.
 

Susan Gerardi is a native New Yorker who resides in Brooklyn and works in Manhattan writing copy for WNYC - New York Public Radio. Susan served a six year sentence in Los Angeles, but was released on bad behavior and extradited to the East Coast. She is currently working on a collection of poetry entitled, Forever New York.