Robert and Marcy Branski Poetry Scholarship Award – Poetry

Molly Stadler

Grand Traverse Academy – Senior

When you were there

Parked haphazardly, not quite between the lines

On the blacktop of the Meijer parking lot

It meant he was there

Sitting in your driver’s seat, staring at us through

Your windshield

I can still see you

And the colorful faces

On the slab of wood my grandfather painted

Zip-Tied to your grill

And caught between headlights

I remember you

Outside my second home

Beside the neighbor— his friend’s house

Whose music blared when it got dark; and in front of

The tiki torches he insisted to buy which

Eventually caught fire sometime

Late at night

You meant trouble in my six year old mind

You were idle

On the pavement

Waiting outside his work while

We came to visit him

And you stood still as voices grew

Icy, harsh, loud

And palms slammed against windows before

He jumped on the hood of my

Mom’s car as

We tried to drive away