Howie Good
December 28, 2007
Casting a Curse
“Avenge me!”
- Harry Dean Stanton, Red Dawn
May the contagious spew contagion on you
May looters devour your substance
May children begin to cry when you enter a room
and dogs whine and howl until you leave it
May you strive to be current but always be out of date
May you suffer frequent pangs of painful longing
May you look in the mirror and see pockmarks reflected back
May your statements be greeted with derisive laughter
And may you grow old alone and die unattended and may you know
before you do that only the wind will ever visit your grave
Howie Good, a journalism professor at the State University of New York at New Paltz, is the author of three poetry chapbooks, Death of the Frog Prince (2004) and Heartland (2007), both from FootHills Publishing, and Strangers & Angels (2007) from Scintillating Publications. He was recently nominated for the second time for a Pushcart Prize.
