THE BOY NEXT DOOR

When his mom doesn’t buy him
a toy, he steals it. When his dad
tells him to get a job, he sells baggies
of pot, beats up sissies at school
for their lunch money, drives
nails in his shoes for kicking foes,
has a chain for fucking up faces,
filches cash from his mom’s purse,
his dad’s wallet. 
                               He is proud
to be the bad ass of his block.
At nine he unscrews the hinges
on a locked liquor cabinet and
samples bottle after bottle, adds
some water to hide how much
is missing. 
                               He delights
in telling lies and getting away
with them, it just goes to prove
that folks are so foolish he’s
entitled to rip them off. When
he tells of things that never
happened he looks people straight
in the eye, the goal is not truth
but to get what he wants.

Once he stabs a cat with
a kitchen knife for scratching
one of his records. Working regular
hours at a decent job is not
the point of life, rather having
a good time when and where
he pleases, no matter who
or what it costs.

William Heath has published four poetry books: The Walking Man, Steel Valley Elegy, Going Places, and Alms for Oblivion; three chapbooks: Night Moves in Ohio, Leaving Seville, and Inventing the Americas; three novels: The Children Bob Moses Led (winner of the Hackney Award), Devil Dancer, and Blacksnake’s Path; a work of history, William Wells and the Struggle for the Old Northwest (winner of two Spur Awards and the Oliver Hazard Perry Award); and a collection of interviews, Conversations with Robert Stone. He has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Hiram College. He lives in Annapolis.  www.williamheathbooks.com