Who dreams in Nike commercials
and asked me to write him a poem
Whose smile reminds me of Lebron James
and slam dunks classroom doorframes
Who in one year alone has gone
from little boy to built
still sorting out how people react to him
He would like for this poem to rhyme
but it is not that simple
or I am simply too dense
to code switch that fast
He passed me a post-it once
“Can I go to
the bathroom to
cool down of
my father and I
don’t want to
cry in class
Pleaseâ€
My file cabinet of his meltdowns
rolodex my afternoon runs
mom is mad at us
mad at him
How can we lift him up
pass him the assist
to more
than slam dunk?