The Candy Corn Cycle_____________________________________________________________________
It
depends on your mood, she said
You
can either pop them in your mouth whole
Like
this (she did it, eating six or seven at once)
Or,
you can separate them
White
tip first
Then
thick, soft orange
Then
yellow.
We
paused as she did this,
Demonstrating
her deftness
At
separating the candy.
If
you’re feeling zany, she said,
Starting
to laugh,
You
can take the yellow bottoms and
Stick
them on your teeth
Like
sweet, sticky caps
And
then your teeth look like
They’re
made of corn!
He
has no say in what happens
Just
like any victim
He just
lays there, as they draw on him
Holding
him down, using markers
Pencils
His
head is cut open, and his innards
Pulled
out
We’ll
eat this later, they say,
Continuing
to giggle
We’re
going to make you smile, they say
No,
Scream!, the little one says
And
there’s nothing he can do
They
gouge his eyes
Dig
at his teeth and gums
Laughing
as they go
Finally,
they leave him
Butchered
and hollow
Burning
on the inside
Sitting
on the porch
In
the rain.
Beef
Stew and dumplings on a cool night
Shoofing
through leaves
On
a painfully blue and sunny day
Pumpkins,
Corn
Football
and chili
Burning
Fireplaces
Fun
Size Candy
Big
Thick Sweaters and corduroy
Coming
home from school
And
mom is in the kitchen
Making
Corn Chowder
And
home made rolls
Dinner’s
in fifteen minutes
She
says, smiling
Everyone’s
already happy
and
they don’t even know
I
got the lead
In
the school play
He
got a little gleam in his eye
And
drove without telling me where
I
flipped through the radio stations
Looking
for the game on A.M.
We
left the city, the buildings
The
traffic, the trash in the streets
And
escaped to the open, northern suburbs
Where
fathers raked up leaves
And
Golden Retrievers barked on porches
Packs
of students shuffled to the game
We went
to Mustard’s for hot dogs
And
cheese fries and dripping, hot italian beef
It
would have been the perfect day
Had
the parking lot not been riddled with bees.