Doug Van Hooser
A live trap
Capturing a skunk creates a problem.
They turn tail and spray dismay.
Such distain leaves a sense of unforgiving,
a scent of arrogance
not capitulation.
This attitude inclines for ridicule,
but is skunk nonchalance.
This abysmal reaction,
dissuades one from a serious discussion
to sort out the skunk’s complaint.
But what allows the skunk to dine and defecate
wherever his self-righteousness saunters,
and blare like a trumpet his dissonant stink<
all thin and thick skin absorbs?
The odor: a dye of words that discolors,
a stain that cannot be dissolved.
A tattoo time does not erase.
Doug Van Hooser‘s poems have appeared in Chariton Review, Split Rock Review, Sheila-Na-Gig, After Hours and Poetry Quarterly, among other journals. His fiction has appeared in Red Earth Review, Flash Fiction Magazine, and Bending Genres Journal. Van Hooser’s plays have received readings at Chicago Dramatist Theatre and Three Cat Productions. More at dougvanhooser.com
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