Fairmount, Indiana

James Dean

My Dad is buried near James Dean, of slouching leather fame.

They high schooled together in this farm town

but James achieved escape velocity—

—flew his one orbit, became a shooting star for us to wish on.

Dad and 47 other kids worked one Midwestern foot

in front of the other toward a well-deserved old age,

carrying a generation of rebels on their quiet shoulders.

Now Dad and Jim share this dirt, and surrounding trees

whisper what the living can never know.

Burr Stephens