by Howard Winn
the little boy said
as he hunched over
his crumpled bit of
paper with the stub
of pencil clutched in
one dirty little hand
of the street he added
so I will know where
all my friends and
enemies live and then
I will know where
it is safe to go and
where not to go
for there are good guys
and bad ones my mother
says mothers know
she says and my father
agrees and i wonder
how they learned to
tell the good from the bad
A new collection of Howard Winn's poetry has just been published. It is titled Comedy and other observations. Howard Winn continues as Professor of English SUNY.