I Eat Poetry

Fatality

I was in the store buying the usual-
Coffee, gas, the paper-when I hear
Sonny Parlin's voice on the scanner that
Dave Massenger had barricaded himself
In his house and there were staties everywhere.

Some nightmares you dream in advance and then
You walk into them and they play themselves out
To the last card in the inexorable deck.
Dave started shooting and a marksman (who was
Also a 'Nam vet) drilled him. One shot in the head.

It was front page the next day and the day after
It was the tractor-trailer tipping over on
the interstate and the day after that a guy
Shot his ex-wife in the parking lot outside
Kmart and after that I lost track.

It was weeks before I went over to see
His wife, Maria. She was sitting in the kitchen
Drinking a cup of herbal tea. The leaves
Were all gone off the trees and the sky was that
Autumnal electric blue and the wind was blowing

Hard and fresh out of Canada. "He saw a lot
Of wicked shit," she said. "He'd visited hell
But he'd put it behind him. I mean he was living
With life, putting one foot in front of the other,
Not trying too hard to be too good."

My eyes strayed around the room and wound
Up resting on a high school picture that had to
Have been Dave, one of those goggle-eyed
Pictures from the senior yearbook. He was
In-country not more than a year later.

Maria started talking about their trip
To Disney World and how Dave had gone
Up to Mickey Mouse and given him a big
Fat kiss. We laughed, then felt the silence.
It was going to start snowing soon.