A Poem for Noah Tao

I’m wearing my Lucky 13 shirt
with the legendary logo
of that ornery cat

But this time the cat’s face
is half covered with a bandana
that says 2020 on it
like it’s warning you to stay away

Noah made sure I got this shirt
because he knew how much I loved that bar
and he knew it was going away
but more importantly because he was my friend

That’s who he was

If you were his homie, he was
on your team
which meant you were in
his heart
which meant you were
someone he loved
which meant he would
think of you in those unexpected moments and reach out to say
“I got you” in a million different ways

Noah was the first person to tell me
“Loud Pipes Save Lives”
and in a way that sums him perfectly
too nice to be a biker
too biker to be that nice

A habitual button pusher
line stepper
shit talker
ball buster
mirth making
rat bastard sonofabitch who
lit up every fucking room he was in
even if he was burning it down

I loved that man and
this world is worse
without him in it

Unfortunately, loud pipes aren’t enough
to save everyone’s life
but I have a feeling they will be the music
that brings our boy Noah home