Favourite 20th century poems

[billy]

A BOY’S SATAN by Stan Rice from; Fear Itself

1.

I will tell you
Where the Devil lived.
He lived in
The padlocked
Iron-wire toolshed
Where everything
Was the color of rust
Which is the color the Devil is.
I was told to Stay Out Of There,
Because it contained
Black widows, scorpions, and wasps.
Though this was true the real
Reason I was not allowed
Inside the shed was because
That’s where the Devil hung his head
To rest it while the pure evil
Of the Daylight Moon did his duties.

2.

At the end of the gravel alley
In the darkness was where
The Devil In Overalls
Kept chickens. Once one of his roosters
Escaped down the narrow space between
Our garage and his fence, with no way out.
And the Devil offered me fifty cents
(A fortune!) to go in and bring out the rooster
Because, you see, ‘he couldn’t fit.’
I said I certainly would and went in
And when I got a few feet from the rooster
It went insane and as uncatchable
As a ball of flaming razorblades
And I backed out instantly to see
The Devil in his Overalls grinning at me,
Saying, “Well, son, youll never get rich like that,”
And I said, right out loud,
“Not the Devil himself
Could get that rooster,” and the Devil’s eyes
Rolled up slightly so I could see
The whites below and his Overalls
Filled up more with himself
And he said, in an oily drawl,
“It’ll come out or starve,”
And I knew that even
Though he had toyed with my life
The Devil was right.