El Culo de Bettie

juan, little bad juan,
self appointed potter
at the Greenstreet Home
for Way
ward boys, sings
while he secretly forms
the perfect clay
rear
       end

Todo lo que pido de ti
Es que siempre Me recuerdes *

Anatomically correct, he
kilns it, names it Bettie
after a starlet he saw
at age 8 on cable tv while
mom moaned her living
through the crisp
bedroom wall

he hides it under his bed, along
one grey sock and one blue striped
shirt he stole last week on an outing
to Joyner's Thrift Shop

sometimes he spanks it
till his hand is as red
as the clay that formed it

he sleeps, hand resting
on Bettie's sweet rump nightly,
dreams of angel-faced girls
calling him to their side, but
the pounding of boy's feet
rushing downstairs
for oatmeal too soon awakens

Pris Campbell
©2005

*All I ask is that you forever remember me

Art: by Didi Menendez
  copyrighted and used with permission

Return to Homepage
Return to Poetry Index I