INTERSECTION OF ROY AND BROADWAY

To encourage the sons along beside him,
the dad clasps hands.
They each get one side,
can share him this way equally.
Waiting for the light to change,
the father leans down
to the seven-year-old, kisses his neck.
Son’s shoulder reacts to the tickle.
The other son, eleven years old,
looks away from this affection,
is embarrassed, jealous,
one cannot say except in the way
he does not look at them,
merely holds tight dad’s hand.
The one held out just for him.

Janée J. Baugher is the author of Coördinates of Yes (Ahadada Books). Her poetry has been adapted for the stage at University of Cincinnati, Interlochen Center for the Arts, and elsewhere. Since earning an MFA from Eastern Washington University, Baugher has attended Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference and held residences at Soaring Gardens Artist Retreat, Centrum, and the Island Institute of Sitka. Her nonfiction, fiction, and poetry have been published in Boulevard, Verse Daily, Portland Review, and The Monarch Review, among other places, and twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Baugher’s performance venues include Seattle’s Bumbershoot Arts Festival and the Library of Congress.