Shrine to Satan


art by Pat Jones




The neighbor's child has built a muddy shrine
to Satan in our yard. And I'm supposed
to cut the lawn? OK, but look at those
croquet clubs that she used (good God, they're mine)
to pound her pentagrams of chicken bone
into the ground. The handles are unscrewed
from all the hammer heads. It's kind of shrewd
the way she placed that Playskool™ telephone.

Still, little girls should not touch garden tools
or take the plastic rake out of the shed--
she's tied it with those jump ropes to the tree.
A shattered flower pot. The Barbie head.
Horrific how this child has learned the rules
of Belial for sculpting in debris.




by Rick Mullin