Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine # 14

Ne’er-do-well The summer air has developed a drug problem this hulking mass of swirling grey carcinogens fell face first on the beach the beach was cordoned off and we were all told to go home he was in the hospital for weeks mumbling baseball scores after his stomach was pumped And so the rain came with her weird parties we were instructed to wear funny hats while she played ragtime on an out of tune piano but no one wants to hear that crap in September it was nice to see her gone this morning when the summer air returned to swing his body on the rooftops I was driving when I heard the gunshot it sounded like a lonely Christmas a few blocks later I saw blood stains on the leaves of the trees the summer air must’ve staggered through there leaves falling in his wake he left debts all over town and the cold wind stalking Benjamin Schmitt Benjamin Schmitt is the author of three books, most recently Soundtrack to a Fleeting Masculinity. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in The Antioch Review, The Good Men Project, Hobart, and elsewhere. A co-founder of Pacifica Writers’ Workshop, he has also written articles for The Seattle Times and At The Inkwell. He lives in Seattle with his wife and children.