The Taxidermist Poem by Randy McClave

Chico is the taxidermist
He goes to work with moonshine in his thermos,
Animals he has always enjoyed to mount
But, how many has he done, he's lost count.
He lives in the backwoods of Greenup County
Where he can easily find partners for his bounty,
So, as in love he searches for his next prey
A creature that flies or has four legs is always okay.
His parents had said that he would never amount to much
Animals and not his books is all that he wanted to touch,
Into the woods he would go for his adventures and twirls
While his buddies were studying, and dating girls.
Not getting promoted in school he always feared
Maybe that is why one day he forgot to shave his beard,
Unexpectedly though he was promoted from third grade to fourth
Not bad for a man in his twenty's, wrote his family up north.
After graduation he got married and he worked in a mill
But, he still chased raccoons and opossums while making steel,
Life had made him somewhat confused, but very rough
So, now lonely animals he enjoys to stuff.
Some say that we become our environment and our pets
That is why now Chico gives his captured creatures cigarettes,
He now answers a "Yes" with only a "Baa"
And he will always answer a "No" with a strict "Caw".

Randy L. McClave