BAD BOY

Mom said “Only the neat survive,”
her Bible on the coffee table
open to John 3:16, a verse
to guide anyone who entered.
I disappointed her
as I was sloppy, my room messy,
and worse, I left glasses all over.
She yelled and yelled. I thought
she was dramatic, never helped
with the dishes. She said that was
her job. Part of her job was
religious training, our church
four blocks away. If God so loved
the world, why did he insist I go
to church? School was bad enough.
I couldn’t close the top
of my overstuffed desk. So far

I have survived, still messy,
still missing her.

*

Kenneth Pobo is the author of twenty-one chapbooks and nine full-length collections. Recent books include Bend of Quiet (Blue Light Press), Loplop in a Red City (Circling Rivers), Lilac And Sawdust (Meadowlark Press), and Lavender Fire, Lavender Rose (BrickHouse Books). Opening is forthcoming from Rectos Y Versos Editions.