THE BOYS FROM BREWER BOTTOMS

Coach Danner loved them.
With those boys on the team
our high school won All-District in football
every year.
Coach never told them what to do. They knew.
They'd grown up
defending their father's stills.
They knew every shortcut in those swamps and woods
to outfox the sheriff and his dogs.
The town doctor said 
when he was sent for by one of them
somebody would meet him at the highway
and take him in by boat.
They always made sure 
he saw the rifle.
We heard they lived in shacks and ate snakes.
We heard all strangers disappeared
without a trace.
On the football field,
envy and moonshine drove their brains.
They hated the town boys,
whose fathers worked
and drank coffee every morning
with the sheriff and the chief of police.
They were handsome and polite,
respected their elders,
could crack a man's back,
their blue eyes smiling.