✳flâneur — a map of the web's best reading

Sentences | The Poetry Foundation

poetryfoundation.org · 138 words · saved by 1 readers

Advertise with Poetry Poetry Magazine Poetry Magazine Archive Submit to Poetry

Share My mother kept a chest of letters my father sent me from prison. She didn’t let me see them until I was old enough to read profanity. Every letter, written in all caps with blue ink blotting out every other word. He signed each letter: Love, Shy Boogie. That was the name he claimed he got from the Bronx, known back then as the Boogie Down, where he bought the crack he’d sell back home. I don’t remember exactly how many years my father spent inside and I never bothered him with such questions. But I once asked my mother how long my father was in prison before he got out on parole. With an

Explore this link on the map →

related reading