Cool Breeze

First window opening

of spring (green buds,

squirrel-frolic), & so

I think of him —

Cool Breeze — 

the crack-addict who

stood outside

the grocery store

& made his habit

known, shaking

down cart-pushers

for their change, or, 

as gentrification came,

changing up his game —

waiting at the red light

where newer model 

cars lined up &

where — spying 

his mark — he’d reach 

through rolled down 

windows to snatch 

co-pilot designer 

mini-dogs 

from cars with 

bumper stickers like 

COEXIST —

you know the one — 

this world spelled out 

in holy symbols

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Reed Turchi is a poet and musician from Swannanoa, North Carolina, now living in Brooklyn. His debut collection, "Dancing with Poets," was selected by Victoria Chang for the 2026 Colorado Prize for Poetry, and he won a Grammy Award and received an Emmy nomination for his music. Turchi earned his MFA from Warren Wilson College, where he was awarded the Ellen Bryant Voigt Scholarship.

“Cool Breeze” appears in Reed Turchi’s Dancing with Poets, winner of the 2026 Colorado Prize for Poetry selected by Victoria Chang and forthcoming from University Press of Colorado in November. Available for pre-order here.