P O E T S ON THE LINE
a continuing anthologyFounded by Andrew Gettler & Linda Lerner
NO. 9 & 10 T H E M I L L E N N I U M I S S U E
Edited by Linda Lerner
ROBERT PETERS
The Child In The Burnt House
A child runs through the burnt house.
He finds his father charred, dead,
huddled under the stairs.
He recognizes the face and kisses it.
His father's hand falls off.The child climbs with the hand,
to the tiles on the burnt roof.
The stars come close.
They tell the child to sing,
but he can't do anything.
The Hypnotized Sheep
His sheep are too smart for him.
They sleep with their eyes open,
a glazed illusion of stupidity, knowing
that he will knife them in their sleep,
for meat and wool. Nightly, to find them,
with his fanged dog
he traverses the mountains.
He takes to wearing sheepskin
to decoy them. Ravens
living off seeds in warm sheep dung
warn them of his approach.
It becomes impossible to round them up
for shearing, or for the market.
His tactic changes: one by one
he hypnotizes the sheep,
divides them into lions, leopards,
mink: some sheep growl, some develop
a taste for fish. They forget
they are sheep. When they close their eyes
he trundles them off to market.
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