Harlem Globetrotters, Olympia Stadium, Detroit, 1971

Mark DiPietro, recently reclassified
as the only kid on the street with divorced parents,
reaped the benefits when his absent father returned
at Christmas with Globetrotter tickets.
Classified as best friend, I went along.

Watch your car for a dollar? His father
glanced around, wearily paid two black kids.
We parked on one of many snowy streets
of abandonment without meters or guarantees.
The kids scowled at me and Mark, eye-level.
the scowl they earned on the small stage
of their black neighborhood visited
by suburban whites for hockey
or Jethro …