My brother kept
in a frame on the wall
pictures of every motorcycle, car, truck:
in his rusted out Impala convertible
wearing his cap and gown
waving
in his yellow Barracuda
with a girl leaning into him
waving
on his Honda 350
waving
on his Honda 750 with the boys
holding a beer
waving
in his first rig
wearing a baseball hat backwards
waving
in his Mercury Montego
getting married
waving
in his black LTD
trying to sell real estate
waving
back to driving trucks
a shiny new rig
waving
on his Harley Sportster
with his wife on the back
waving
his son in a car seat
with his own steering wheel
my brother leaning over him
in an old Ford pickup
and they are
waving
holding a wrench a rag
a hose a shammy
waving.

My brother helmetless
rides off on his Harley
waving
my brother's feet
rarely touch the ground—
waving waving
face pressed to the wind
no camera to save him. 

—Jim Daniels

Rights & Access

From Places/Everyone, 1985
(University of Wisconsin Press, 1985)

Copyright 1985 by Jim Daniels.
All rights reserved.

Reprinted by permission of University of Wisconsin Press. Copyright 1985 by Jim Daniels. For further permissions information, contact University of Wisconsin Press, 1930 Monroe Street 3rd Floor, Madison, WI 53711-2059.

  • Jim Daniels

    Jim Daniels (1956- ) is the author of three poetry collections, including The Middle Ages (Red Mountain Press, 2018). Daniels has been teaching creative writing at Carnegie Mellon since 1981.