Absent
by Rich H. Kenney, Jr., MSSW
No sign of him now for three weeks – him,
being Carlos, a thought-to-be Mexican-American
with perfect attendance in the social work program,
a senior about to graduate with a four-point-o.
Twenty-five, six feet, with a good-natured grin
and milky-colored eyes, broken since birth.
Sturdy in thought and well-earned opinion, he holds
his own in debates about borders and citizenship,
knows first-hand the sucker punch of social injustice.
A lover of goalball - bell ball soccer for people
without sight who play by ear. A purist who
arrives early, before each game, to hand sweep
the floor for game-changing flaws like warped boards
and dings in the wood. “It’s good to know ahead of time
where the surface cracks are. They’re makers or breakers.”
Evening tracker of the turtle he lets roam free all day long
in his living room, a way to ride out time, his loneliness.
Partaker of rallies that fight for the homeless - usually
marches without his cane, rings arms, instead, with strangers.
Tuner of pianos who appreciates the science of vibration,
the tightening and loosening of strings as taught by his father
to whom he mails what little he has left after tuition.
Had little to say his last day in class about walls and wedges,
the people coming and going, killing and caring.
Rich H. Kenney, Jr., is Social Work Program Director and associate professor at Chadron State College in Chadron, NE. A graduate of the University of Texas with a master’s degree in social work, he received a Creative Writing Fellowship in Poetry from the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Recent publications include articles in Faculty Focus and poetry in Plainsongs.