Our Real Warmth

Pap puffed power
Into now ungloved frozen fingers
And cracked his knuckles
To send a signal

Kindling obeyed and caught fire
Us boys saw and shut our mouths

Outside, our kill hung and drained
Its flows becoming drips
Recurring plops into puddles
Invasive echoes that increased our restlessness

Defiant wind opened cabin’s door wide
Stink of steaming deer guts mingled with evening’s mist
Swooshed inside to mix manhood pride with childhood guilt
We had been warned about such confusing coexistences

Chuck got up to latch the lock again

“One time,” Pap started this season's same story
“Ma was young, too young”

Chuck needlessly whispered "sssshh" to insist on respect

Boys' eyes widened to await wisdom
More mature eyes closed
To reinforce respective reflections
On never to be forgotten first times

“Ma had slipped out of Sunday School
To find flowers for Faith’s funeral”

Pa pegged the spittoon properly loud
A purposeful pause in performance

"Man, oh man!
Ma's best friend, murdered by the friggin' meanest mommy
This story is too sad to say
But, boys, always remember to do your chores"

A sound from the darkness outside
Chuck got up again to check

“I was hid behind the big Birch in back of the church barn
Ma made me memorize almost a whole Bible story first
Then, we went into the Woods
Ma found flowers and I found my future wife”

Chuck retuned with a dead raccoon
Pap lit a stick of incense and took sip of shine

“We saw a big-bright-blue-light around the bend”
Pap pointed at the window and held pose
Boys' heads ducked under wadded-up denim

Six seconds passed

“It smelled sickly sweet, like honeysuckle in summer”

Pap puffed a pipe full of fruity tobacco
Chuck cut off the tail, then threw out the coon
 

Six seconds passed

“Something started toward us
Looked like an alien or something like you'd see on TV
It wasn't running, it was sorta swimming in air
I crapped in my cut-offs
It came closer …and closer …and closer!
Faith’s flowers flew into the air and swirled around in circles above us like magic!
There was a wa,wa,wa,wa,wa sound
Ma pissed her panties!"

"That's what she said later."

Tommy’s toboggan reappeared then disappeared again when he smelled the redolence

Six seconds passed

Frank’s father snored with a wheezy whistle

“Ma knelt on her knees and prayed to be saved
She said Jesus' name so many times
I couldn’t count them all
Just stood there and stank”

A bird’s nest in the chimney burst into flames
Sparkles fell into fire
Floated around the cabin
Went out on the floor

“We hid behind a Willow
The bright-blue light eventually left
Ma thinks it was a sign not to have sex before nuptials
But, I think it meant not to put fun in front of feeding my family”

Pap sipped the last of his shine
Crawled into his sack
Chuck left to cut on his truck’s fog lights
  Recently installed blue lenses

Slight snow insulated the cabin’s roof with accumulating florescent flakes

An eerie ambiance kept the boys compliant

The guts on the ground were uncooperative
After rinsing the blood off his boots in the brook
Chuck was the last to try to sleep
He shaped his body into a box
Cozy in the corner

“Happy belated birthday, Boy”
Pap warmed his oldest son last
One who would never wonder about
Or doubt
Absolute truth