Accidental Self Destruction

Daredevil Bruce/

Sheriff Heil’s oldest son/

danced a boxer’s circle/

chanting/

sissy girl, sissy girl/

charming his posse/

of pubescent boys/

he stole a kiss on their dare/

A fog of years/

dims the details/

flush of his freckled face/

brush of his cold chapped lips/

tug of his determined fingers/

wound tight in my ponytail/

I squint at the blue-lit screen/

military records online/

Bruce Huppert Heil/

non-hostile casualty/

Vietnam/

accidental self destruction

pistol point blank to his brain/

finger determined on trigger/

circle of bedeviled boys/

a war weary double-dog-dare/