all the people going around calling out his number,

calling out his name.

Zachariah 44! Zachariah 44!

Is your daddy your hero? the newscaster had asked me.

And all these years later, just like that day, I know

he’s not my hero,

he’s my dad, which means

he’s my every single thing.

Day after the Game

Day after the game

and Daddy gets out of bed slow.

His whole body, he says,

is 223 pounds of pain

from toes to knees, from knees to ribs,

every single hit he took yesterday

remembered in the morning.

Before the Ever After

Before the ever after, there was Daddy driving

to Village Ice Cream

on a Saturday night in July before preseason training.

Before the ever after, there was Mom in the back seat

letting me ride up front, me and Daddy

having Man Time together

waving to everyone

who pointed at our car and said That’s him!

Before the ever after, the way people said

That’s him! sounded like a cheer.

Before the ever after, the people pointing

were always smiling.

Before the ever after, Daddy’s hands didn’t always tremble

and his voice didn’t shake

and his head didn’t hurt all the time.

Before the ever after, there were picnics

on Sunday afternoons in Central Park

driving through the tunnel to get to the city

me and Daddy making up songs.

Before the ever after, there were sandwiches

on the grass near Strawberry Fields

chicken salad and barbecue beef

and ham with apples and Brie

there were dark chocolates with almonds and

milk chocolates with coconut

and fruit and us just laughing and laughing.

Before the ever after, there was the three of us

and we lived happily

before the ever after.

Daniel

In second grade, Daniel walked over to me, Ollie and Darry,

said You guys want to race from here to the tree?

When he lost, he laughed and didn’t even care,

just high-fived Darry, who always wins

every race every time and said

You got feet like wings, bruh.

Then he got on his bike and we knew

he wasn’t regular. He was fearless.

Even back then, he could already

do things on a bike that a bike wasn’t made for doing—

popping wheelies and spinning and standing up on the seat

while holding on to the handlebars and speeding

down the steepest hills in town.

Me, Darry and Ollie used to call ourselves Tripod

cuz the three us came together like that.

But when we met Daniel, we became the Fantastic Four.

And even after he broke his arm

when he jumped a skate park ramp right into a wall,

he didn’t stop riding.

He said My cast is like a second helmet,

held it high in the air

with the unbroken arm holding the handlebars

and then not holding them and Daniel flying

around the park like some kid

gravity couldn’t mess with.