When he was a child
\ndeath lived like a parrot
\non a pirate’s shoulder
\non his shoulder<\/p>\n
he saw a mongrel
\nhit by a car
\nwatched it shudder
\nteeth bared in
\ndeath’s lip back grin
\nuntil its eyes fixed
\nsomewhere else
\nand life drained away<\/p>\n
he saw a classmate
\ngiggle next to him
\nat the cowboy double bill
\nHopalong Cassidy and
\nRandolph Scott
\nhanged himself that night
\nstopped like a swatted fly
\njiggling in pointless cirlces
\nat his unexplained empty desk<\/p>\n
he giggled nervously
\nat another funeral
\nhis best friend mysteriously
\nafter vanishing for months
\nsucked dry by ukulele<\/p>\n
then Gary Cooper
\ngunned down
\nin the Spanish mountains
\nIngrid Bergman screaming
\ntorn away
\nhe understood
\nthe machine gun
\nsuddenly silent in the pass
\nthe tolling bells
\nSince then
\ndeath in films was
\ntoo soft so easy
\na bullet a pained look
\na crumple to the floor
\neyes staring
\nthen closing gracefully<\/p>\n
that was a lie he knew
\nyou can’t close your eyes
\nwhen the life goes out<\/p>\n
when he was a child
\nthe dead guys stared
\nat what they saw there
\nbut too late<\/p>\n
death was death.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When he was a child death lived like a parrot on a pirate’s shoulder on his shoulder he saw a mongrel hit by a car watched it shudder teeth bared in death’s lip back grin until its eyes fixed somewhere … Continue reading