you left metropolitan hospital
in my fourteenth year
ten blocks from those city projects
dangling on the lip of the east river
...
tonight i returned & found you gone
your death spoken casually
on tongues of survivors who live
where home is closed til 2 a.m.
...
And Joe Louis Died Today
he was
silent stolen
victory
whispered
lips
of
bellboys
in the days of our fathers
in the midst of our
never was
he was
raucous laughter
confined in
dark mouthed
pullman porters
a gladiator
in hearts
without
heroes
name
written wide
in dust
on well trod
back stair
steps.