born under a southern moon

by Jay Levon

i was born
on the edge of midnight
on the outskirts
of a junkyard
under a heat wave
southern moon
to a dead woman
and an
invisible man
and there
were no angels watching
I can promise you that
not on the edge of midnight
not on the outskirts
of a junkyard

i like to imagine
a shotgun serenade
and a coyote symphony
welcomed me
into this world
but that's just
poetic bullshit
i was a bloody stump
of skin cells
and mashed up
molecules, the same
as any one else

my momma mixed
whiskey with
her breast milk
my daddy cut off
my foreskin
with a rusty blade
and fed the scrap
to a stray mutt
my cock still
barks at the moon

i was born
on the edge of midnight
on the outskirts
of a junkyard
under a heat wave
southern moon