The Fatal Skin

Peter Unwin

I tried it once, I did, I threw the kids 

 Into the trunk of the car and did 

 What mothers do in the news. 

 Straight into the lake I went 

 With the kids in the trunk 

 And a copy of Balzac's 

The Fatal Skin on the car seat 

 Beside me. In retrospect 

 I should have done it the other way 

 Around, the kids beside me 

 And Balzac in the trunk 

 But there is something about 

 A water-damaged book 

 That depresses me beyond belief. 

 In the end it didn't matter because 

 At the last minute I swerved 

 From the precipitous precipice 

 And went to the Dairy Queen instead 

 Where the kids had a pralines and cream 

 Milkshake and I sat on a picnic table 

 Reading Balzac and experiencing 

 What he calls an almost 

 Feminine yearning for 

 Oriental languor.