We’re in my truck smoking behind your grandpa’s barn & you’re talking about how we’re Sam & Frodo destined for greatness in a land far from here & me, I’m just trying to keep you alive because I know the protagonist talk is momentary, a buzz of grandeur brought on by the weed & soon the sun will set behind your bright eyes & darkness will creep in from the depths & you will remember where you live & the names people call you & how you — you! — became an issue in the school board election.
They’re stupid and afraid, I say & you say, mmm, who isn’t.
If only they could see you the way I see you right this second: eyes half-closed, your head leaned against the passenger window, the last sigh of sun lighting you up like an angel. Your voice is so very far away when you say we need to destroy that ring, Frodo, & we would save the world.
Normally I would laugh at this & say obviously I am Sam & you are Frodo. You would laugh back & we would be laughing together but I make no sound. I am transfixed by your face, golden in the temporary light of an ending day.
Amorak Huey is author of four books of poems including Dad Jokes from Late in the Patriarchy (Sundress, 2021). Co-founder with Han VanderHart of River River Books, Huey teaches at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. He also is co-author with W. Todd Kaneko of the textbook Poetry: A Writer’s Guide and Anthology (Bloomsbury, 2024).
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