By Gale Acuff
I’m a good boy, I do what I’m told most
of the time and like Father swears punish
-ment hurts him more than me though I wonder
if that’s really so but like I say I
obey so that when I die I go to
Heaven and get to stay forever un
-less God judges me as unsuitable
and sends me down to Hell but–hey–that’s all
right, maybe I can work my way up from
there or Satan will free me for good be
-havior–I may be only 10 but faith
is one thing I do have, good marks to boot
in Sunday School so if I pass those tests
maybe I’ll pass God’s. But who the Hell knows?
Acuff has had poems published in a dozen countries and has authored three books of poetry. His work has appeared in Ascent, Reed, Arkansas Review, Poem, Slant, Aethlon, Florida Review, South Carolina Review, and many other journals. He has taught tertiary English courses in the US, PR China, and Palestine.
