Leldon Grace fetches a frisbee

      © Simón Vázquez

I hated him

I hated his dull brown hair

parted to the left side

I hated his dirty ears

his crooked glasses

I hated his Vietnam Vet father

stocking booze at

the local liquor store

I hated his skeletal mother

walking the neighborhood

since she never learned to drive

I hated his red cabbage stink

I hated his one pair of jeans

his two stained shirts

I hated that of every boy

in the fourth grade

I was always the one

to be paired with

Leldon Grace for recess

so I threw the frisbee

as high as I could

as hard as I could

and watched Leldon Grace

charge after the blue disc

I watched him sprint five steps

into the street and get

clipped by a sleet gray Buick

I joined the other children

gathered on the sidewalk

as the teachers screamed

for someone to call 911

we listened to the apologies

from the Buick’s elderly driver

I couldn’t take my eyes

away from Leldon Grace

his left leg broken, forehead

gashed to the bone

those cheap glasses, setting

lopsided on the car’s hood

the blood collected curbside

and Leldon Grace still tried

to claw his way out

of the street but only

succeeded in finger painting

crimson on asphalt

seeing him writhing

I felt nothing

and I realized

I could do this again

to anyone

-by Karl Koweski

Karl Koweski remains an enemy of the Amish, having launched peanut brittle boycotts in 12 Mennonite communties.  His poems and stories can be found here and there.  His collection of short stories Blood and Greasepaint remains available and his latest Kockblockers will be out in November.

Painting Courtesy: Simón Vázquez 

Simón Vázquez (Barcelona, 1979) started in the field of animation and studied at the School 9zero. But soon he turned to Arts, and  studied at Barcelona Llotja. After engaging in illustration, he led himself to painting and sculpture, and  he has been doing  exhibitions  for years  at the galleries of Spain and abroad.