Your brother accidentally drowned
while everyone else was looking away
and then your father took that dive
into the lonely grain elevator and
a few days later you had to go
off to work where you always
came back smelling of mustard and
grease and unanswered questions
Then we took our final drive together
only you had failed to inform me
there would never be another
Bill McCloud is a poetry editor for the Right Hand Pointing literary journal and is the poetry reviewer for Vietnam Veterans of America. His poetry book, The Smell of the Light, reached #1 on The Oklahoman’s “Oklahoma Bestsellers List." His poems have appeared in Oklahoma Today and the Oklahoma English Journal. He is a faculty member of William Bernhardt’s annual WriterCon, presenting sessions on writing and publishing poetry.
