Howie Good

To a Student Who Asks, ‘Can I Do Something for Extra Credit?’

When refugees from the fighting
drown trying to reach shore,

you can memorialize the spot
with plastic flowers, dead flies,
and drawings of frowny faces,

before resolutely going back
to whatever it is you ordinarily do

worlds away from the dark city
where gods are hanged from lampposts

and their blue eyes plucked out
and carried in pockets for luck.

 
Come all without, come all within: you’ll not see nothing like the mighty Howie Good.