Float
In the machine shed you
And your friends were turning
A flatbed wagon into a float
For the homecoming parade
Blasting “Free Falling”
From the radio on the workbench
You told me the key
To making a float float
Is to conceal the wheels so
The whole thing appears
To be floating
I seem to remember
Helping you stuff diamonds
Of chicken wire with tissues
Spray painted yellow and blue
Turning the wagon into a palanquin
To carry you through the streets
In all your high school glory
Though I can’t remember Colby
Were you homecoming king
Crown set down in your dark hair?
Did you wear a purple cloak
Embroidered with gold?
Hold a scepter?
Probably the float was for football
And you wore your away jersey
Grass stains on the shoulders
Scattering candy like rye seed
As if a street can be sown
We scrambled to pick it up
Before it could take root
Dragging pillowcases on the asphalt
Like the trickle down poor
Years later a few streets over
You fell off the hood of a friend’s car
Like you’d forgotten you lived
In Illinois not California
And thought you were surfing
And could just float over everything
And that even if you did fall
Everything below would be
Soft and sweet
Like Kleenex and candy