I've killed the man who steals
potatoes from the garden.
Imagining he moved unseen
I caught his silhouette against
my neighbour's unripe corn -
and then the strangest thing;
he thought that if he looked away,
threw out a probationary glance,
or moved his feet about in pyrrhic shuffles,
Then like Houdini's elephant or
the boy at the top of that Indian rope,
he might pull off a vanishing trick.
Some hope.
He tried a kindred stance
below the dying oak, whose vast
penumbra stretches over all –
his arms the broken towers of a seraglio,
his legs astride in concertina lust
my precious pommes-de-terre -
so naturally I approached with caution;
took in his dark agrarian glare,
observed his Barbour jacket
braying at the seems, the pockets
deep and bulbous with the bounty
of my harvest.
It was something in that look
that brought it to an end.
No sense of the ridiculous;
no realisation that the game was up.
And when there are no
words to say, no understanding
of a common ground,
what is there left to do but strike?
I felled him with a single blow,
impressed how well my Spear
and Jackson cleaved his skull
wide open. His clothes I burnt
among old pallets left by the man
from B & Q. His atrophied head
adorns the garden gate, a talisman
for the few who view my plot
with eager hands like him.
The body rots away somewhere;
just a case of digging in.
Comments
skinner_jennifer | October 21, 2010 - 09:01
Hi fatboy74,
Very good, original poem. I like the way you describe
'his atrophied head adorns the garden gate'. That
must have been a sight.
Jenny.
fatboy74 | October 21, 2010 - 13:24
Thanks Jenny, glad you enjoyed - that would be quite a sight, far less door to door salesman I imagine. Cheers :-)
tcook | October 22, 2010 - 16:32
This is not only our Poem of the Week but also our Facebook and Twitter pick of the day.
Join us on Facebook at ABCtales.com
Join us on Twitter @tcookabctales
Get a great reading recommendation most days.
Highhat | October 22, 2010 - 16:43
A great piece. Keep an eye on the potatoes you so laboriously have tended to. Congratulations on the cherry and POW and POD
;)Pia
shoe | October 22, 2010 - 17:17
Much enjoyed, I like the matter a factness of the digging in! well one on the POW & POD,
fatboy74 | October 22, 2010 - 19:22
Wow! Thank you Tony, that's a real honour and complete surprise, absolutely made up.
Thanks again Pia and Shoe for your kind words - I'm actually more protective of my carrots which I try to save from those pesky wabbits.
I think i'll break out a treble happy smiley! :-)
:-) :-)
well-wisher | October 26, 2010 - 21:00
I enjoyed this poem, gripping and dramatic but humorous. There should be more poems about murder/crime. I also liked some of the description such as the jacket 'braying at the seams' and the silhouette against the 'unripe corn', almost cinematic.
fatboy74 | October 27, 2010 - 20:52
Thanks well-wisher, pleased you enjoyed this and thanks for the kind comments. I think I will write a few more crime inspired poems. Lady Bathsheba has a good one at the minute.
Will have a look at a few of these stories of yours that have no comments. I have a bit of time this evening. Cheers.
smokejack | November 11, 2010 - 15:34
I've avoided you outside BnQ
you had that look about you.
Cracking poem great imagery
good work.
Deserving of awards.
fatboy74 | November 11, 2010 - 17:03
I often have that look about me outside B and Q - many thanks for reading and kind comments. :-)