Monsanto Man, Retired
You think it’s easy,
embalming bodies
in these nightmares
I have every night,
bodies a vulture
wouldn’t touch,
bodies rotting
decades later
in the afterglow
of Agent Orange,
bodies found in
villages and fields
in Vietnam where
I have never been
except in nightmares.
I’m Monsanto Man,
chemist nonpareil,
retired now,
but working hard
embalming bodies
for eternity
in nightmares
I know now
will never end.
Donal Mahoney
