Raymond Luczak

Bump in Front of Mrs. Kichak’s House

Whenever I raced down on my banana bike,
I always swerved around it—
it was a landmark of sorts,
nameless and unmapped
yet easily identifiable from the kitchen
window overlooking Oak Street,
so when I heard the city of Ironwood
had slit open that bump to let out
its trapped air from too many winters
and repaved the entire street,
I saw the last of my childhood spin
crazily like a balloon expiring
the ghosts of bad haircuts,
terry socks, peanut butter sandwiches,
trips to Lake Superior, and no TV in summer,
only to be ironed out into fade to black.

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Raymond Luczak is the author and editor of 22 books, with the latest titles being Flannelwood and Lovejets: Queer Male Poets on 200 Years of Walt Whitman.

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