A Poe Soul in the Storm

I thought scallops

had no eyes

and I was wrong

60 times.

We brought them back

frozen from the store

to our trailer.

I was free of childhood here

but the sewage smell

creeping in through

the floor vents once a week

while we slept

made me depressed.

The cat that bore

six kittens

(one of which she intentionally smothered)

on the carpet –

and forced us to rent

the carpet cleaner –

hated me.

So all the days

while you were at work

I lied in bed

like a person unemployed

because I was

and drank Rolling Rock

until I passed out

sleeping you closer to me.