the first of many very long meals

little boy wants
a horse that has
a real big dick

little boy tells his daddy
what he wants

daddy turns red, gets
embarrassed

tells the boy's mother
what the boy said

mother wrinkles up
nose, holds her
belly like she's in
pain
fixes dinner without
saying a word

little boy still
wants a horse with a
real big dick
only now
he feels like shit.

little boy starts to cry
daddy says stop it
mother fixes dinner real quiet
little boy stops crying

nobody says much at dinner
but everybody sure has lots to
think about.

--Carl Miller Daniels (This poem appeared in Slipstream, Issue 15, 1995.)