Soothsayer

I’m a ripe watermelon take two

knuckles and thump my chest thank God

I was born with pretty teeth in the right light

no one knows the difference between me

and trash if I smile with my lips

you can’t tell I’m sucking on a handful

of pennies and a pound of aluminum

sells for fifty cents when my father’s liver quit

we sold thousands of crushed cans I bought

my first car with that money I bought the blue

bottles of coolant it guzzled with that money

every time I lifted the hot hood the smoke

choked me in school they lined us up

opened all our mouths to check for rot

you have to be willing

to plunge your hands

into every part

the animal may behave

erratically may lose all fear

may refuse water

if decay is present if decay is only skin

deep you still have plenty

to eat and that’s without

even boiling the bones one time

at church an old woman pressed a finger

into my baby soft skull and promised

my mother this life was my last