youth and mustard
but no bread
we buttered our cheese
corner store brie, only just past expiring
still good
little black pepper packets, “little cuties,”
stale tortillas and yesterday’s
turkey, shared between endless hands
of rummy and plenty
of gin with Sprite, playing
thankful
for what we didn't
yet have, but—damn—what we might
yet get, would
give, could
risk
back then
Evan Leslie grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and now lives in Houston, Texas with his Husband, Ryan, and his rescue pit bull, Rimbaud (formerly Rambo). Evan is a cellist, arts educator, and the director of the University of Houston’s Community Arts Programs. Evan is the former Artistic Producer at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Evan is grateful for the support and guidance he has received in workshops at Inprint Houston. His poems have recently appeared in The Pinchand Troublemaker Firestarter.