This is What HE Did…
the snarling little old man that no one liked
the one who lived alone down the road
and never spoke to anyone, or, if he did, it was to shoo
children off his lawn, or complain about the
neighbours' overhanging branches;
clean-shaven and bespectacled with a lot of
lank, grizzled, grey hair hanging down,
and a house full of books and mess;
so, one imagines that he might have been
quite intelligent; but this is what he did:
he got all naked before tarring and feathering
himself and stalking to and jumping around
the town centre yelling: “I’m a chicken! I’m a chicken!”
I imagine him there at home, feet plopped in
the little basin full of sticky tar and wonder
what propelled him to such an act. was it some
long-held sexual fetish he’d been too
timid to explore? was it some bizarre piece
of impromptu street theatre? in any case,
i watched as the ambulance crews and police
showed up to take him away. he looked fairly
ridiculous then, all blackened and feathery
with the sticky tar on his knees and torso;
his face betrayed a feeling of ridiculousness
as well, a feeling of shame
after such excitement.
