Hometown Villains

By Andrew R. Duckworth

Hometown, the place of mistakes
And rumors of mistakes,
The place of smiling lips
Over gritted teeth,
The place of my soft voice
Hiding a lion’s roar.

Heroes, we put them on pedestals,
Speak their names with kindness,
Remember them fondly.

There were a few there,
Hometown heroes.
They were the firefighters,
They were the officers
Who laughed with you
At dinner.
They were the pharmacists
That opened up shop on the weekend
When you needed a prescription.
They were the friends
Who still keep in touch.
But they were few.

Don’t tell me that hometowns
Are forever home,
Are forever good.
I know too well otherwise.
The hometown villains made sure.

Villains- the ones who spoke
Your name when your ears
Weren’t present,
The ones who hated your name
And used it so frequently
It lost its meaning,
The ones whose lies dripped
As cleverly as truth
From a salivating mouth,
The ones flying high
On their own supply
Of wicked words
And sick deeds,
The ones who skipped over
That portion of the scripture
That warns against false witness,
The ones who stay entertained
And entertain by way of
Killing souls
With forked tongues,
The ones slithering in the garden
And presenting evil
Like a carefully wrapped
Christmas present,
The ones finding joy
In the storms
Of others,
The ones who glare at you
With a twisted snarl
When you stop in town
To see your father’s headstone,
The ones who want you gone
But would then have nothing
To talk about.

A grudge? Not quite.
I rarely think of them now.
But when I do, I think back
On the times my name came
Too often from those who
Did not know me.
Hometown is only tolerable
When I keep thinking
About the heroes.