Receiving Line

California, November 4, 2008

Whenever a man wins, other men form lines

To wring his right hand like a towel wet

With what we want after washing. None

Of us clean, we leave soot older than color

Caked in his palm, so the winner we waited for

Can’t see his own life line. This is mine,

Suited, on time: My name is Jericho Brown.

I like a little blues and a lot of whiskey. I read

When my children let me. I write what I can’t

Resist. I’m as proud of you as a well-built chest, and

I am in unlegislated love with a man bound

To grab for me when he sleeps. Take my right hand,

The one that wakes him, the one I use to swear—