by Chad Parenteau
Glenn set a car on fire.
Surprisingly stuck around
until the police arrived.
Jesse got his girl pregnant.
Denied it. His family told hers
never contact him again.
Tim’s Dad shot my aunt’s cat
from his window, kept guns
Tim grabbed from drawers.
Brian and James tried college.
Drank their first night. Thought
licorice would conceal breath.
Some trolled on Facebook when
Trump lost, angry that our world
was bigger than where they lived.
Surprisingly stuck around
until the police arrived.
Jesse got his girl pregnant.
Denied it. His family told hers
never contact him again.
Tim’s Dad shot my aunt’s cat
from his window, kept guns
Tim grabbed from drawers.
Brian and James tried college.
Drank their first night. Thought
licorice would conceal breath.
Some trolled on Facebook when
Trump lost, angry that our world
was bigger than where they lived.
Chad Parenteau hosts Boston's long-running Stone Soup Poetry series. His latest collection is The Collapsed Bookshelf. His poetry has appeared in journals such as Résonancee, Molecule, Ibbetson Street, Cape Cod Poetry Review, Tell-Tale Inklings, Off The Coast, The Skinny Poetry Journal, Nixes Mate Review, and the anthology Reimagine America from Vagabond Books. He serves as Associate Editor of the online journal Oddball Magazine.