My son’s soccer coach doesn’t gangbang anymore. He has a firm handshake and holds down a legitimate day job. If he thinks of seeking trouble, he says, faith yanks him back onto the proper path. God has supposedly turned his life around. And maybe He has, but as a parent I remain skeptical. It’s dinnertime in July and my son’s wearing long sleeves despite the heat, concealing the temporary tattoos he put on his arms to look like Coach Davis. I scowl and long for the moments twelve years ago when cries through a baby monitor were my sole concern.
Adrian S. Potter writes poetry and short fiction. He’s author of the fiction chapbook Survival Notes (Červená Barva Press, 2008) and winner of the 2014 Lebanon Poets’ Society Free Verse Poetry Contest. Publication credits include The Poet’s Touchstone, I-70 Review, Siren and burntdistrict. Additional propaganda is at http://adrianspotter.squarespace.com/.
A Quiet Courage 