Prompt: ACID – Mary Oliver, new and selected poems Vol 1

In Jakarta, among the vendors

Of flowers and soft drinks,

I saw a child with a hideous mouth,

Begging.

I fell into his mouth of rotting teeth

And rolled the smells of innocence

Giving him a roll to chew I knew my actions against the hungry mouth of the world,

Minuscule

Little Boy, Poor Boy,

Paper Boy, fool

How many more teeth

Will you pull?

I will never see him again I suppose

But what of this rag, this shadow

Flung like a boys body

Into the walls