Painting by Jasminka Banusic
A Scandal in the Suburbs
We had to have him put away,
For what if he'd grown vicious?
To play faith healer, give away
Stale bread and stinking fishes!
His soapbox preaching set the tongues
Of all the neighbors going.
Odd stuff: how lilies never spin
And birds don't bother sowing.
Why, bums were coming to the door—
His pockets had no bottom—
And then-the foot-wash from that whore!
We signed. They came and got him.
X.J. Kennedy
In a Prominent Bar in Secaucus: New and Selected Poems, 1955–2007
Posted over on Applehouse Poetry
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