magically delicious

a free verse poem

---

there was a lifeless house
at the cove of the woods
every kid knew had a basement
packed with children

and Old Man Meyer, the hog farmer
had been known across generations
for his methods of making
tiny bones disappear

the Bush Man had overgrown hedges
to shield (as was told to us)
so he could get away with devouring
his two very own

the Conyers had a secret junkyard
cars leftover from the families
they had tricked inside the house for dinner
never to be seen again

the Tindalls had them chained up in their attic
Childresses had ‘em one day, gone the next
and everyone knew never to accept banana bread
from Mrs. Maxwell

there were cookers and ravagers
torturers and violators of the tenderest parts
every sordid type imaginable
too clever for the cops to ever capture

but us kids always knew
how could we not?
since the smell of it was inherent
to our childlike nature