for a few short hours every week
you helped me forget
about the plastic leg brace
that i had to squeeze
into my right shoe
every morning

helped me work muscles
i’ve let turn to fat
in middle age

the year i turned thirteen
i ran into you
at a pizza parlor
on my birthday
when you told me
you had cancer

it’s your laughter
i hold onto now

good therapy
when i need it most.

John Dorsey lived for several years in Toledo, Ohio. He is the author of several collections of poetry, including Teaching the Dead to Sing: The Outlaw's Prayer (Rose of Sharon Press, 2006), Sodomy is a City in New Jersey (American Mettle Books, 2010), Tombstone Factory, (Epic Rites Press, 2013), Appalachian Frankenstein (GTK Press, 2015) Being the Fire (Tangerine Press, 2016) and Shoot the Messenger (Red Flag Press, 2017) and Your Daughter's Country (Blue Horse Press, 2019). His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and the Stanley Hanks Memorial Poetry Prize. .He was the winner of the 2019 Terri Award given out at the Poetry Rendezvous.