The Mad Poet of the Year blog posts share the poetry of a long-time Mad Poet. This year-long appointment provides readers with a deep dive of the writer’s work and thoughts on poetry. We are thrilled to have R. G. Evans serve as the Mad Poet of the Year for 2022.
COLD SOIL ROAD
by R.G. Evans
We lived in a house that had no name,
so we called it Charnel House.
We became the envy of Cold Soil Road.
Those busybodies across the street, the Bones,
peeked at our place through parted blinds.
Sid an Nonni Necropolis rerouted their evening
ambles to see our spread at sunset.
Soon, the neighbors named their digs as well:
Abattoir Acres. Knacker’s Knoll. Coup-de-grace.
But we were the first. We could feel the resentment.
When the Stillborn kids from down the block
egged our Charnel House, we really lost our cool,
tore down our name, went back to our old ways.
Mr. Ossuary, we see you there hanging
your shingle across the road: Hell’s Little Acre.
You can have this first swirl of October.
Me and the Missus can hole up here till Kingdom Come,
nothing between the two of us and you
but curtains.
I’d often pass by the sign for Cold Soil Road when I used to work for ETS near Princeton, NJ. The name always sounded a little spooky to me, so I had some fun turning it into a spooky (I hope!) poem which appeared in my first book, Overtipping the Ferryman. Enjoy what some call Spooky Season, but beware your pumpkin spice. Jack-O-Lanterns have teeth, you know.
R.G. Evans’s books include Overtipping the Ferryman (Aldrich Poetry Press Prize), The Holy Both, and Imagine Sisyphus Happy. His original songs were featured in the poetry documentaries All That Lies Between Us and Unburying Malcolm Miller, and his collection of original songs, Sweet Old Life, is available on most streaming platforms. Evans teaches creative writing at Rowan University. Website: www.rgevanswriter.com