Tricks Man

Janet Barry

Tricks Man comes
with lies on his feet,
he is naming all the babies,
telling all the stories,

word play stories,
word play tricks

in Tricks Man’s mouth —

Mother Coyote, feed your babies
from the rubbish bin —

Father Fox,
lie down hungry —

the chickens all live
in Lie Down House,
Assembly Line House,

the eggs all tumble
to Tricks Man’s mouth,

for he is eating all the babies, swallowing
all the green-grass tell-tale stories,

and Caw, Caw, Caw,

no-one left but Old Man Crow,
Caw, Caw laughing,
          laughing.

JANET BARRY is a musician and poet with works in numerous journals and anthologies, most recently Looseleaf Tea, Two Hawks Quarterly, Edge and The Fourth River. She serves yearly as a judge for Poetry Out Loud, and has received several Pushcart and a Best of the Net nomination. Janet holds degrees in organ performance and poetry. To see more of her work, please visit jbarrypoetry.com

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