Fraternity

best punch

I ever took

was from my brother

its superiority

owing to its force

and owing to

my asking for it

I remember

the sound

more than the feel

and the feel

more than the party before

my eye

a reminder

of a blank spot

of family humiliation

my Christmas eye

fattened tight

useless

and all sunset

and dusk

no broken

socket or cheekbone

but I felt

grit under the skin

sand under the flesh

and I wanted to

rub and pound and grind

that stuff

into fine

finer finest graphite

and write my brother

a note