Old School

baseball diamond, the church, the smoke & gyp,
the place where I was born.

It occurs to me: monsters are as real
as the New York Times, as the headlines.
Revelation has more facts in it than a history textbook.
I should know. I know them both, equally.

Kids believe in magic.
They come right to your door.
Trick or treat. Oh, it would be a treat
to trick with you.

Zip ties changed the whole game.
No more keys to lose, no more rattly handcuffs.
Quick. Quiet. Nice and smooth.

Those Internet freaks, with their electric trophies?
Those onanistic losers that every parent’s terrified of?

Amateurs. Rank fucking amateurs
who wouldn’t know beauty
if they found it in their soup.

—PATRICK RAWLEY

(Originally published Halloween, 2008.)