homo crudelis (revised, new title)

[TranquillityBase]

Original Sin

4:50 a.m.
chasing the dog
to shut down his bark
I see three stars aligned
like a telephone pole in the sky.

If I’d seen them move
into a magic column
the sky animated
I’d bow before them
but I’m a child no more.

It’s my time to question
every link back 
to our fabulous myths
of the child
presumed innocent 
only playing 
below an overarching night.

On fishing trips
I helped my father
plunge a seine into a lake
taking in a harvest of bait
leaving a mass of minnows
too small  to be used on the trotline
dying on the bank.

I’ll not plead innocence
not then
not now
not ever again.

it’s my time to question

every link back 

to our fabulous myths

of the child

presumed innocent 

only playing 

below an overarching night

seeds of potential destruction

burgeoning inside.



I had a childhood

and I remember enough

to be dangerous.



Once I helped my father

to plunge a seine into a lake

taking in a harvest of bait

leaving

a mass of minnows

too small 

to be used on the trotline

dying on the bank.



I’ll not plead innocence

not then

not now

not ever again.











homo crudelis



4:50 a.m.

chasing the dog

to shut down his bark

i see three stars aligned

like a telephone pole in the sky.

i’m a tv baby

unimpressed.

if i’d seen them move

into a magic column

the sky animated

i’d bow before them

but i’m a child no more

possibly i never was.

Himmler and Stalin 

Pol Pot and Pinochet

were children once;

were they ever innocent?

i doubt it.

it’s my time to question

every link back 

to our fabulous myths

most of all

the myth of the child

presumed innocent 

only playing 

below an overarching night

but the seed of destruction

was burgeoning inside.

i had a childhood

and i remember enough of it

to be dangerous too.

i once helped my father

to plunge a seine into a lake

take in a harvest of bait

leaving behind

a mass of minnows

too small 

to be used on the trotline

to die on the bank.

it’s true i tried to save a few

but i knew it was hopeless.

there’s an old photo

from those camping trips

my father pretending to pour coffee

into a tin cup i held towards him.

i’ll not plead innocence

not now

not ever again.