Rabid skunks cozy up in doghouses
when your father’s out of town.
It’s midnight, a middle school year
and your mother says she needs you
look at her, needs you to help out.
The neighbor’s come up, off-duty
deputy puts a pistol in your hand
guiding you to take aim in the dark
like an orange, go ahead now son
just slowly squeeze the trigger.
Middle of that next morning
middle of that sad hot summer
and no one shows you the way
to shovel skunk off dark internal walls
but you learn why and how
long that stench will last.