– For Vinny; the road was never too long

On our way to Sal’s Market
summer darkness beacons light’s way,
forced to walk by broken sprocket,
tar-bits of stone, a bare foot’s target.

With nothing more than stolen coin,
off father’s desk from mason jar,
a bulls-eye, Topp’s cards our desire purloined
push back thunderclouds not seemingly to far.

But a wonder, these aisles of sour and salt,
and clouds of malt blanket chapped lips,
unrequited from a hotball’s rage,
sticky red clings to finger tips.

Break open those defiant packs, pocket
protests to Marshall’s message, collected
and stuck to banana seats and light sockets,
a Mother’s folly easily rejected.

So grab the loot, a quarter short!
Let’s run through argent fields of laundry
and take Scenic Drive through Jone’s gauntlet,
snake through stoic pines on way to secret fort.

Ed Gaudet is a writer who lives in Hanover, Massachusetts, where he is a cybersecurity software entrepreneur in healthcare. He has written for Forbes Magazine. His journey with poetry began at an early age and grew during university where he studied under poet Ruth Lepson and was greatly influenced by Robert Creeley. While attending Bentley University, he was the Editor-in-Chief of its literary magazine, Piecework. In 1999, Ed was awarded the grand prize for his poem, “Sitting Shiva,” which appeared in Into the Sun. His work is forthcoming in The Inflectionist Review, Clade Song, and Book of Matches, Lit.