Mr. Quilt's Rotten Luck

1.

On a crooked, cobblestoned and ancient road I briskly

strode when two men wearing bowler hats, curled

moustaches, all in black, on a tandem bicycle went this

way, that way till they fell beneath a coach-and-four.

2.

When I was just six I was rather curious regarding

paternity. Just who could my father be? I think he was

skeletal. I think he knew mother, well, controversially.

3.

Then some time much later on, during breakfast Aunt

Yvonne choked upon a bacon rind. She sang backwards,

nearly died. Then there was my friend from school whose

dog turned rabid, mad and cruel, and ate his master up.

4.

I would need more fingers than are given upon either hand

to count up all the sea-choked screams, calcined

whispers, rendered seams, pudgy-pretzled baby limbs,

punctured lungs and altered hymns I’ve seen and heard

today...