Wedding Anniversary

A frightening day
for a celebration,
Abel Jones mucked up his mind
on corncob thoughts
when a screech owl hooted
churning his guts. He saw his hopes
stunted, twisted, bare
from too much rain in April,
too much sun in July,
and the harvest in sackcloth and ashes
reminded him of the owl’s warning.
But when a dry leaf
from a dying tree
dropped in his shirt
just out of reach
he beat his wife because it all
had to be somebody’s fault.
‘‘He ain’t mean,’’ she told the judge,
‘‘he just ain’t thoughtful.’’