The Ugly Man Behind the Little Wood
        I hate the dreadful hollow behind the little wood.
        —Tennyson's "Maud"

He must have studied his father's bones
wildflower and smoke in the hollow.
He left his footprints in the snow
a cricket dance for a dying man.

The son blew ash into the urn
father's bones and wildflower.
He must have greeted the children who sang
to the ugly man behind the little wood.

The ugly man raised his rifle
without a single shot
against the smoke in the hollow.
Had his swollen hands and eyes

kept him clean of the blood
on his own reckless hands?
He studied his father's bones
wildflower and smoke in the hollow.

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Copyright © 2012 Charles Fort All rights reserved
from We Did Not Fear The Father: New & Selected Poems
Red Hen Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission