April 6
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	bill rector
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	CHILDREN WATCH SNAKE EAT FAMILY DOG
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	I was one of those children. (Any dirty face, open mouth.) We thought it was happening on TV. See, we never had a dog. I wasn't one of those kids who cracked the door of the trailer and let my voice scamper across the meadow, "Here, Boy!" That's the trouble with poetry. Sometimes floods, then drought. The crops fail. The privy catches fire. Mommy and Daddy run off. It isn't funny, yet it is. See, we were so poor we didn't have a TV. Just imagination with bad reception. Only a dog-eared coloring book we took turns filling in. Snot and tears. The snake curled on the sofa and went to sleep. By then we were hungry enough to eat anything. What did we know? We'd only just grown up. (From bill, 2007)
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	about the poem
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	How often do you see a headline and think, "That's a poem!"? The compression of information, the headline writer's search for an eye-catching phrase, and, often, the bizarre nature of the event can open a door in the mind. The poem follows. Sometimes not far. One may get lost in thought and planning. Sometimes, however, the path of impulse leads all the way to an ending. Usually this happens rapidly. Hopefully, when I arrive I won't even know what I was trying to say. Such was the writing of "Children Watch Snake Eat Family Dog."
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	about the poet
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	Bill Rector is a physician in Denver who has published in a variety of literary journals. His first book, bill, was recently published by Proem Press.
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