Some Men from Kentucky ​(for Ron Whitehead)

By JINN FULLER

Some men from Kentucky
carry a rough perfume
of seasoned new-split wood
You never know when they
may bring you
a brace of squirrels
and say,
Can a girl from Baltimore
make dinner out of these?
The ones with calloused hands
faces scarred
from young-man wildness
who’ve sworn off fistfights
and sometimes leave
poems tucked in the folds
of line-dried sheets
Once they were wildboys
wandering creekbeds and woods
imagination their first
mind-altering drug
and to a man
they still adore
memories of uncomplaining
hardworking mommas
who fed and welcomed
strangers to the table
Older now
they know a thing or two
about easy laughter
fierce loving
their sparkling eyes
irresistible in every season

Jinn Fuller is a poet, visual artist and actor transplanted from Baltimore, Md., to the banks of the mighty Ohio River in historic Clarksville, Ind. More of her poetry and visual art may be found on Facebook; search for “Jinn Bug.”