Set in Mud

that cough sounds bad / a shoe sliding on grit /
when you were a boy / your mamma told you
babies came from homeless men / they woke
to find them in their beards / cocooned in dirt /
cornmeal / they left them behind nice houses /
they knew god was testing them / giving them
a chance to make good / so they wouldn’t come
back as bums again / mamma said your life
was set in mud / because your daddy kept you /
then cut his beard / you got his taste for chalk /
between rips of lighter fluid / blind in both legs
too / all the money you beg goes to soap / razors /
you slap your own face / all day / say no one
learns nothing  this way


by Brendan Constantine

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Brendan Constantine is a poet based in Los Angeles. His poems have appeared in numerous journals and he presents his work to audiences across the country. In addition to teaching at the Windward School, he routinely offers workshops to hospitals, care centers and with the Alzheimer’s Poetry Project. His fourth collection, ‘Dementia, My Darling’ is due out from Red Hen Press in 2016.