Tommy Knows it First
On a hot day in May, we stand
In a semi-circle in front of
A factory wall that has the words
JERK-OFF spray painted on it
In massive, messy, sprawling letters.
We don't know what it means and
We aren't looking at those words anyway.
Our eyes all focus on the mouse
We killed, half on purpose but mostly
By accident. It's not quite dead,
But almost. It's twitching and once it
Even tried to walk away, but it fell
Back down like a soldier after a
Land mine. We want to fix it now,
Which surprises all of us, and
Tommy cries. We don't make fun
Of him and the mouse convulses
Hard twice, then finally dies, and then
I think, for just a second, I know
What JERK OFF means, but the
Thought leaves me as fast as it
Came because we killed a mouse
With a baseball even though we
Only half meant to, and now I just
Want that stupid dead mouse to move.
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