Ode to WI Boys

By Jes C. Kuhn

90’s skater       shroud
loose skin      jeans

slack hoodies       up     over
marred baseball brims

blunted        facialhairweathered     by
smoke breaks in the unbearable elements

labor of auto                                      bodies
oil change appendaged

hydraulic finger-picking
discussion in foreign and

domestic,         calm
in-park immobility

acetaminophen airwaves
plastic rock unheard in a lifespan of ear plugs

I am framed the same
hypothesizing the end note

billed in cold snaps                            aluminum crest
square bust pane garage

wage of the minimal
tool sets age into their thirties

science of pay periods 
hands of the frozen piston

chain wallets that hang the penniless
ecology of deductions

beercan fines slant cigarettes that drag out the days in
topheavy whisky beads 

dirt weed, air dries           thought-
choke, refuge in steered flannel dramedy

I see the mirrors of them in me
neutralizing the fashion skew

tune-up icons that polarize white pastures
summers of condiments and winters of off-brand bread

saviors of the serpentine belt
degrees

in stick shifts and wiper fluid
dehydration of water pumps

gaskets blown out early on county roads that
oppose basic health

“as long as you stand upright and put gas in the tank
yo   u        ar    e         s t     ab i l        i zed”

never reaching the height of petroleum prices
technology that fails us and

leaves behind
sky placated in exhaust spumes.

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Jes C. Kuhn’s poetry and creative non-fiction have been published in Corridors, Two Hawks Quarterly, Burningword Literary Journal, Rock.Paper.Scissors, and Water~Stone Review, among others. He is a recent graduate of Hamline University’s MFA in Writing Program. Kuhn lives, writes in Haunted, WI and teaches in Minneapolis, MN.