World AIDS Day, 1993

All I wanted to do was help
so I made quilt pins
with the help of my art teacher
and a few others
I sold them that day
at City Hall
and gave the organizer
all the money
I had earned.

I remember him
standing and looking at me—
He wore a plaid dress shirt,
a sweater over his shoulders,
he had blonde hair
and glasses,
and walked with a cane.
He stared at me for a long moment
with a look that, as a child,
I couldn’t decipher.

I still wonder about him--
even though I know
he’s been gone
for a long time--
but that look
still speaks to me
from beyond the grave