That Boy's Too Afraid of Incarceration
by Hezekiah Allen Taylor
he ran from the argument centered around the kitchen table
like Lot fleeing Sodom--without looking back once for reference
in periodic table terms, he was frightened of becoming--
most frightened of becoming enthralled rather than pure
Sodium Chloride, not exactly a lot of choice in this family
his father had this tendency to quote Darwin
or more precisely what Dad thought Darwin might say
given his father's own situation and the way the whole modern world works
that was approximately when his mother would start mumbling
about why she ever decided to marry a heathen--what exactly
she'd been thinking, why she didn't listen to her mother's advice
and his father would snort loud and say it was all
about "reproduction" anyway, as if he would never
understand the not-so-subtle reference
slipping out the backdoor he sang the Song of Solomon
to the one big oak tree towering high in the backyard
he chanted it low, the way his mother taught him
and he didn't question at all whether it was sexual
or representative of Christ's agape adoration for his church
in fact, he didn't care; he wanted nothing more
than the end of the argument: Armageddon or scientific explanation
blazing inferno or quiet calculation
he liked the tree because no matter the convictions
of its parents, its birth, its genetics
it still was
silently--it still was
Francine's Version -- Hezekiah's Version -- Inspiration
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