watching my kids ride their

scooters around the skatepark

I notice these two middle school boys

the short one swears like he’s in a movie

or how he must imagine grown men swear

his nickname I overhear is, aptly enough, shithead

the tall one is quiet and the better skater

I don’t know what the tricks are called

but the tall kid’s signature move is slaloming around

with his front wheels lifted off the ground

the short kid doesn’t have a signature move

can barely ride in his stiff dickies pants

but wants to learn the ramp

the tall kid is trying to help shithead

standing on the ramp, arm outstretched, he says

shithead, take my hand, put your board over the rim and drop

but shithead ignores him

instead he goes at it alone and

keeps bailing, or falling and says

for fucks sake or goddamn and once, cock waffle

which the next morning over pancakes

my son asks me about,

not about the definition of cock waffle,

but about the boy who swore and

why he was so afraid

to hold hands