Thursday, May 7, 2009

Terry by Jason Fisk

P1130733

Short,

always in his mustache

and his union truck driving cap

with a Beavis and Butthead button

on one side and a

White Sox button on the other

He frequently wore a Harvard t-shirt

when doing yard work

a hole by his belly button

and sweat stains under his arms


I walked by with my daughter and said

Hey whatcha doing?


I’m feeding this baby squirrel

its Mom fell outta the tree here

…kinda like a squirrel suicide


I knew he loved animals

I’d seen him feed the squirrels peanuts

watching from my couch across the street

I’d also seen the Humane Society magnets

on his fridge when it was his turn for beer


I don’t know how to get him to drink milk

he said as he slowly set a bowl in front of it


Didja try a dropper?


Naw, ya think that’d work?


Better than a dead baby squirrel


Yeah, you gotta point there, he said


Say, I said walking away,

Do you think you fed the ma’ too many peanuts

ya know, so she wasn’t able to jump,

like she should,

from one branch to the other?


Naw, naw, it must’ve been

the storm or something, he said

and then made a sucking sound with his mouth

and shoved the bowl of cow’s milk

toward the baby squirrel




Man Like You - Patrick Watson


Jason Fisk's first chapbook, The Sagging: Spirits and Skin, will be available from Propaganda Press in late May. He currently lives in Chicagoland with his wife, two children, and two dogs. He tries to find time to write between changing diapers and cleaning up dog poo.


Photograph by Adam Lawrence.

"I'm Keith Hernandez" is a street art, graffiti, and film project by Rob Perri.


Man Like You" is taken from the forthcoming release Wooden Arms by Montreal based troubadour Patrick Watson.

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