violence

By giving myself over
to the hands of fate
I’d ended up at the house
of someone I’d punched in the face
at the park, several years before.

Prior, we’d been friends off and on,
and since had seen each other
in close company but neither spoken of
nor alluded to the fact
of what had happened.

I’d caught him off guard,
two times square in the nose
before being wrestled away,
with a shiny black eye
screaming and yelling
the way boys do
in situations at the skate park

And as I sat across the kitchen table
watching him choose records,
and talk about the taste of a certain sandwich.
I smile knowing
we're gonna be friends forever.


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