That Year

for Joey

it was The Cure and the Femmes.
We listened to those tapes over

and over as we skated our ramp
to splinters—

our Tony Hawk hair raging
in the tempestuous breaths of the gods

for whom we imagined ourselves
to be performing.









Eric Otto lives in Naples, Florida and is an associate professor of environmental humanities at Florida Gulf Coast University. His academic work includes the book Green Speculations: Science Fiction and Transformative Environmentalism. His poetry has recently appeared in A Hundred Gourds, The Orange Room Review, Scifaikuest, Stymie, Word Riot, and other places. ecotto.wordpress.com

See Eric Otto's Ten.