I.
Car Hits Tree:
Local Teenager Killed In Speeding Accident.

II.
I couldn't write I couldn't
think,
for a week.

III.
I sat down in the
aftermath,
and you were still pounding inside my head;
boy who I wanted to defend,
boy who I wanted to be.

IV.
You, alone, in the car.
Sixteen,
player on the football team.

V.
We all wore blue and loved and thought of you,
but the days ticked on and you slid farther into that coma,
never woke up again.

VI.
Your sister said at the football game,
she wanted to use present tense for you;
he IS here, he IS a good kid.

VII.
I couldn't do it.
You were here, you were a good kid.

VIII.
And now it's over,
and you will be a page in a high school yearbook,
a newspaper clipping,
and a tragic backstory.

IX.
Car Hits Tree:
Local Teenager Killed in Speeding Accident.