Traffic lights
don’t wait long enough

for me to cross
many young drivers

frustrated
by my brief existence

as a 19-year-old boy
walks in tennis shoes

no laces
no socks

Craig Cotter was born in New York and lives in California. His poems appear in California Quarterly, Chiron Review, Columbia Poetry Review, Court Green, The Gay & Lesbian Review, Great Lakes Review, Hawai’i Review, & Tampa Review. His fourth book of poems, After Lunch with Frank O’Hara, is available on Amazon. www.craigcotter.com