They wouldn’t give me your transcripts

Because I’m not you

Even though you died in October

Twenty-four years before I was born

They said you were in key club

And played football, you were taking

Intro philosophy and general psych

I wonder how far you got

After practice, driving north

I wonder how dark it was

In the rearview, when you flipped

I play your guitar still

Even though I don’t know how

It’s all I have left without your picture

Or a prayer

To fall for

Where did you go?

Mom won’t tell the truth

But I finally saw your face today

In my eyebrows

*originally published in Southern Champaign County Today (2025)