"Six Little Darlings" and "Predators and Prey"

Six Little Darlings

Six little darlings in a nursery.
 
Little Adolf Hitler cuddling a teddy bear.
 
A howling six month old teething Joseph Stalin being soothed by a wet nurse.
 
Diminutive Pol Pot sucking greedily at his mother’s breast.
 
Hairless Osama bin Laden in his crib clutching ferociously to his baby blanket.
 
Cute little Kim Jong-un flat on his back churning his chubby legs in his baby booties.
 
One month old Vladimir Putin with a full diaper crying hysterically in his bassinet.
 
And
 
Come evening
 
When all the little rascals are sound asleep 
 
In walks Joan of Arc
 
Brandishing a butcher’s knife

 


 

Predators and Prey

The 69 year old Supreme Court justice had an affair with his 24 year old law clerk. The same law clerk who a year earlier had seduced a 15 year old boy at a mock trial competition where she was a team leader. The same 15 year old boy who had molested a 9 year old girl in the basement of his family’s summer cottage. The same 9 year old girl who had snipped off the tail of her grandmother’s cat. The same cat who had ripped out the eyes of a rat it had cornered in an abandoned junkyard. The same rat who had been bitten by a flea infected with the plague. The same plague the rat would transmit to the cat that ripped out its eyes. The same cat that would pass on the plague to the 9 year old girl who had snipped off its tail. The same 9 year old girl who would pass on the plague to the 15 year old boy who had molested her. The same 15 year old boy who would pass on the plague to the 24 year old intern who had seduced him. The same 24 year old intern who would pass on the plague to the 69 year old Supreme Court justice with whom she’d had an affair. The same 69 year old Supreme Court justice who would pass on the plague to all of his colleagues and acquaintances. The same colleagues and acquaintances who by then had already contracted the plague as a result of direct or indirect contact with the rat who’d had its eyes ripped out, the cat who’d had its tail snipped off, the 9 year old girl who’d been molested, the 15 year old boy who’d been seduced and the 24 year old law clerk who’d had the affair with the 69 year old Supreme Court justice.

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David Sheskin

David Sheskin is a writer and artist who has been published extensively over the years. Among the places his work has appeared are The Vassar Review, Shenandoah, Puerto del Sol, Quarterly West and Chicago Quarterly Review.  His most recent book is Outrageous Wedding Announcements.