Dear Wesley

You look familiar

Like a boy I used to know

But he’s not here anymore.

You are a shredded kite

Searching for a reason to stay tethered to solid ground

You haven’t found one.

You appear out of place

The smell of cigarette smoke and the clink-clatter of chains

Dragging along behind you.

You are a captive, bound to the past

Trying to burrow and clutch tight to broken roots

While your family tree rots around you.

You have an old guitar in the back seat of your Honda

Just in case you want company

When you spend nights away from home.

You are the boy who kept every secret

Now you think you are the man

Who has learned all the answers.

You ask me if

I remember when we met

That is all you ever ask me anymore.