Needs killing, granny said, showing her seed-pearl teeth, and before that
I stood at the sink scrubbing the skillet, well water faintly reeking
of sulfur, and before that we pulled the kitchen table away
from the wall, so the men could eat first, and before
that she sent me to the garden tucked between
the henhouse and barn for a tomato, and
before that Mickey-the-Dog started
his shovel-headed barking.
One Sentence Poems, June 2024