I didn't have to buy the acid. I found it in an old battery in the barn Where the cows make sea noises And the cobwebs are plated gold. There were packets of birdseed, white floats Of cork, turpentine, and an old black fishline Which shouldn't have worked but did. All of it a sin for the taking — I chose the acid for its smoke And the fishline to tie around my toe To remind me of the smoke. I threw the rotten apples into the yard And the blue hog charged. He was unpardonable, having Killed my sister's child. John couldn't Butcher him —@3to eat that hog Would be to eat the child.@1 I poured the acid into pink Christmas bulbs And sewed them into the hollowed apples. I put them out into the sun to soften. The hog swallowed them whole like smoke. By the time he looked under himself He was already broke. My long dress shook. He stopped to give me a look, And then ran straight at the barn. His head and shoulders passed through the boards. The horse inside Had a hissing fit over him. Nobody Has ridden that horse since Except for the devil Who's said to still be in the district. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONTRA MORTEM: THE TREES by HAYDEN CARRUTH IT JUST SO HAPPENS by JAMES GALVIN TO BAYARD TAYLOR by SIDNEY LANIER BRUTUS AND ANTONY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS MONODY ON THE DEATH OF WILLIAM MARION REEDY by EDGAR LEE MASTERS TOWARD THE GULF; DEDICATED TO THEODORE ROOSEVELT by EDGAR LEE MASTERS VICTOR RAFOLSKI ON ART by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |