Poem 355

The primal creepiness of children’s drawings again (See Poem 228 ) … this one by Jill’s nephew … an outsize human and house, windows designated by crosses like bars, no perspective so it’s hard to tell whether the figure is inside or outside what looks like a secure institution … with his gleeful gap-toothed grin and firework-like digits I decided he was a mad arsonist …

( I like the huge out-of-all-proportion flower like a helicopter … )

Pyromaniac, By James Aged 6

Children's pictures are full of eyes
swarming across the walls
balloon heads with cranked open eyes
and lunatic smiles
                                       behind
always windows
perhaps the phonetic gesture of a tree
the giant helicopter version of a flower
windows    c
                    r
                    i
            crossed
                    s

this hydrocephalic maniac in the foreground
is grinning to be outside the bars
or to be inside
where he belongs
or simply because he has sprays of double happys
for hands
sky rocket stick arms
and a box of matches concealed somewhere
on his person