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.