The Nature Of The Beast

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The Nature Of The Beast

• Bart Flanagan

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Table Of Contents

• Love Begins
• His Beast Grows
• West Bath, Maine
• Love Warn Leather Wallet
• The Work Place
• Sunday Driving

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Love Begins Pg 3

• On a hillside in Meriden a couple
• sits, on a bench surrounded by daffodils.
• She leans into him as the flowers
• Lean and stretch to the sun
• I think of a time when love begins,
• On a day much the same amid the din
• Of spring time and starting anew
• All I see is you,
• And I feel like soaring above the blue.
• Past the puffy clouds and birds in flight
• Then, as the sky turns to grey,
• I realize what life is like when you are gone.
• But now amid the daffodils
• Love and springtime begin.

4
His Beast Grows Pg 4

• Out of brief notes and stolen
• Looks. Out of illegitimate love,
• His Beast Grows
• Out of the sly glances and secretive
• Moments, in the next town over.
• Hearts break like bones, crushed
• By a collision of wills.
• Out of a womans need for another
• His Beast Grows
• Overheard conversations, whispered
• In the dark, laughing, talking of
• Moments shared in his bed,
• Without him.
• His Beats Grows
• From the observed evidence, come
• Dire thoughts of pain and revenge

5
West Bath, Maine Pg 5

• You want to get to West Bath, Maine,
• Take Coastal Rt. 1 and a left onto New Meadows
  Rd.
• Travel past the school playground,
• Past the old Grange Hall,
• By which the four wheelers race in summer,
• Where important town wide decisions, used to be
  made.
• Take a right on Old Bath Rd. and turn at the
  corner of Mere Pt. Rd.
• Past the old man working on his classic hot rod,
• Waiting for that big break and the cherry red,
  68 Mustang he dreams of.
• Roll down your window, look left onto New Meadows
  River
• and breathe that brackish air.
• Imagine yourself racing a snowmobile across the
  frozen ice of the river in mid winter.
• To get to West Bath think of pine trees, think of
  summer fading, the barking of hounds,
• And a faintly distinguishable rumble of exhaust
• from a four wheeler on the power line trails.

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Love Warn Leather Wallet Pg 6

• I place you in my pocket every day.
• I feel your black smooth leather,
• Well warn and broken in.
• Containing money and bits of important
• Information that helps me through my day.
• Last night I placed you on my bed stand, in
  preparation for
• Sleep.
• Weeks ago I misplaced you, only to
• Find your creased and scratched surface that
  delights me.
• Years ago I bought you.
• And now I covet you.

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The Work Place Pg 7

• The grassy hills and leafy groves
• Become a place of refuge for me.
• The smell of horse manure and
• Crushed apples, tell me I have arrived.
• The electric fence ticking off
• Into the distance,
• Makes a cadence for my work.
• The horses stomp and
• Snort in their stalls as I
• Toil and sweat above them.
• Hour upon hour of manual
• Bending and twisting.
• My father calls me crazy for
• Loving this place so.
• But each summer it calls me
• To those fields of tall grass
• And that dark, hot, hay loft.

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Sunday Driving Pg 8

• Theres somethin women like about a pickup
  maaaaan.
• These lyrics surge through my head
• As I pilot my white Ford F-150
• Pickup truck
• Down a dirt road headed for
• Nowhere in particular.
• I begin to laugh as
• Joe Diffy serenades me
• With his views on the opposite sex.
• Apparently a pickup is key to success.
• I look in my rear view
• At my 8 ft. bed that
• Never has to be made
• And giggle again as I
• Travel down that dirt road
• Headed for nowhere in particular
• But some peace of mind.