“Caution metal is hot,” a sign invites
warning away but beckoning close.
Who can resist the temptation to touch
the gleaming metal wall with this notice?
But that’s the two-edged sword of all Boys’ Town
the mixture of danger and temptation
like those days when sex and death together
danced to new-wave beats, drank wine-cooler sweets.
The change was swift obituaries stopped
almost overnight as new habits and
miracle drugs spared lives from families
that banished their sons and locked
out their sons’ chosen families and
buried the dead with judgment not love.
Chicago Sonnet 44
by D.A. HOSEK
D. A. Hosek’s poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in Hanging Loose, I-70 Review, Big Score Lit, Dodging the Rain, and elsewhere. He earned his MFA from the University of Tampa. He lives and writes in Oak Park, IL and spends his days as an insignificant cog in the machinery of corporate America. https://dahosek.com @dahosek.bsky.social.