A DIRTY MOUTH GETS FED

I yelled fuck
at another kid
and Mom overheard,
pulled out a bar of soap
and stuck it in my mouth.
Fucking delicious, I said
as it hung from my lips
while she tried to think
of a better punishment.

Kevin Ridgeway is the author of Too Young to Know (Stubborn Mule Press) and Invasion of the Shadow People (Luchador Press).  His work has appeared in Hiram Poetry Review, New York Quarterly, Gargoyle Magazine, Paterson Literary Review, Slipstream, Chiron Review, Nerve Cowboy, Heavy Feather Review and San Pedro River Review, among others.  He lives and writes in Long Beach, CA.