Poetry of Issue #7        Page 59

Anger Management

we all sit in a circle around
a table reading out loud from
handouts about assertiveness
and passive aggression when
the eyes of the kid tattooed in
teardrops show me
the hellhounds inside of him
who are ready to chew me apart
for making him look stupid
in front of the hot counselor
in the short red skirt
who is leading our group session,
both of us daydreaming about
fucking her, when all of a sudden
a woman in her sixties who never
talks begins screaming at the top
of her church choir lungs after
the recovering meth head spills
off-brand soda all over her
leopard print fake leather pants,
and she strikes him repeatedly
with her purse as her
eyes roll back in her head,
in dire need of an exorcism.

  Kevin Ridgeway