Better a Bonfire

Hitch up the mule,
I said to myself,
and haul this stuff
to the garbage dump,
all these boxes, bundles
of remembered deceit, anger,
violence, enough scandal
here to blow the neighborhood
wide open. I wonder why
I hoarded these items?
A lie here, a cheat there,
a battered wife, abused child,
whiskey bottles by the case,
a boy who stole a car,
a girl who needs a husband,
all decayed fruit from
the neighborhood tree.
Let me come with clean hands,
come on you jackass, lean into it,
for god’s sake take it away