Boy Scout Troop 81
Sixty years ago in our innocence and ignorance
we line up for inspection like little brown cadets
basement of the Baptist Church
as Mr. Lily who like a swan
with long neck and floppy lips
explains what’s wrong our posture our attitude
or once what’s wrong with our shoes
which is when Kenny says
I’m not buying new shoes unless they’re blue suede
and Mr. Lily backs off on footwear.
Something weird about Mr. Lily
we can’t say what except
nobody can figure why he’s our leader
he has no wife no child no connection.
Canines in a pack we sense a sickly smell
begin resisting in ways small
like we won’t laugh at his penis jokes
which are funny but strangely out of context
and ways large
like we won’t line up for inspection
we won’t stop singing Barnacle Bill the Sailor
until a chair flies through a window
until some higher-up Baptist hears the riot downstairs
says we should be ashamed of ourselves
and also Mr. Lily will be leaving forever
though nobody can say exactly where
or why.
Joe Cottonwood has repaired hundreds of houses to support his writing habit in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. His latest book is Random Saints — poems of kindness for an unkind age.
Sixty years ago in our innocence and ignorance
we line up for inspection like little brown cadets
basement of the Baptist Church
as Mr. Lily who like a swan
with long neck and floppy lips
explains what’s wrong our posture our attitude
or once what’s wrong with our shoes
which is when Kenny says
I’m not buying new shoes unless they’re blue suede
and Mr. Lily backs off on footwear.
Something weird about Mr. Lily
we can’t say what except
nobody can figure why he’s our leader
he has no wife no child no connection.
Canines in a pack we sense a sickly smell
begin resisting in ways small
like we won’t laugh at his penis jokes
which are funny but strangely out of context
and ways large
like we won’t line up for inspection
we won’t stop singing Barnacle Bill the Sailor
until a chair flies through a window
until some higher-up Baptist hears the riot downstairs
says we should be ashamed of ourselves
and also Mr. Lily will be leaving forever
though nobody can say exactly where
or why.
Joe Cottonwood has repaired hundreds of houses to support his writing habit in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California. His latest book is Random Saints — poems of kindness for an unkind age.