3 A.M.
by Christopher Jones
Deep inside the Texas night
a window shatters.
A thief — burglar,
or rapist —
intrudes a leg into our home,
booted foot
grits down on broken glass.
“Dad!”
I whisper-shout.
“Dad! Someone’s breaking in!”
“Jesus Christ, Christophah”
he replies,
his voice cocked at it New Hampshire angle.
“I’m a buncha ashes
in a jah
in Illinois.”
In life,
he was no help either.
I grab my pig spear
that stands bedside guard,
slide one naked foot free of the bedroom,
then another,
as I move quietly
toward the creak on the stairs.
Christopher Jones founded Lost Prophet Press in 1992 and published the literary magazines Thin Coyote and Knuckle Merchant: the Journal of Naked Literary Aggression for many years. His work has been or will be seen in many venues, including Cajun Mutt Press, The Wild Word, Eunoia Review, The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror (St. Martin’s Press) and a flowerpot on the Detroit Lakes Poetry Walk. (Take that, guidance counsellors!). He lives with his family, two cats and many dogs in West Saint Paul, Minnesota, USA.
