Marilyn Farnsworth (1960- )

I met my husband at the University of Maryland.
Our eyes locked, and I knew we’d get married.
Sometimes your heart just knows it will be real.
He was studying pre-med. I was a Liberal Arts major.
We got married while in college on a summer’s day.

I dropped out of college, worked as a secretary
To help pay for his education and a comfortable life.
A year after he became a doctor, he began to change.
I noticed little things at first, bigger things later,
And with my woman’s intuition I suspected an affair.

I came home early from work one day and
Caught him in our bed with another woman.
I kicked him out of the house after that.
He didn’t care, said I’d gotten boring and fat.
I couldn’t control my anger thinking about

How I’d given up everything to help him
Become a doctor who cheated on faithful me.
I obsessed and obsessed over what he did to me.
It got so bad that when I was out driving and
Saw him and his girlfriend smiling and laughing,

Walking along a sidewalk happy and holding hands
I went crazy and plowed into them with my car and
Drove back and forth over them until they were dead.
Now I’m in the Maryland Correctional Institution for Women
Wishing I’d never met him, at least he and his slut are dead.

Bob Boyd

A Cat Named Duffy

Mildred and Mike, both in their nineties
Had an affectionate cat, named Duffy,
Who they said was just like a human
Or had been a human in a past life.
Duffy seemed to understand their words
And listened to their woes like a therapist.
One night while Duffy was in the kitchen,
She smelled an awful scent in the bedroom
And knew the scent meant danger and death.
She raced into the bedroom and pounced
On Mildred and Mike and woke them up
And saved them both from horrible deaths.
Smoking in bed Mike had fallen asleep
With a lit cigarette in his outstretched hand.
Drugged on sleeping pills Mildred and Mike
Didn’t wake up as the flames began.
And had not Duffy awakened them,
They both would have died in a raging fire.

Bob Boyd

The Tale of a Hunchback Woman

She was shunned for being a hunchback woman
Her deformed appearance suggested to the villagers
She was a creation of the devil’s dark arts
Past the evil times of burning witches to death
She was saved from the tortures and the stake
She lived alone and was a withdrawn recluse
She’d been ill treated and maligned since childhood
And had little to do with people after those tearful times
One day In the center of the village she spied
A child being attacked by a huge ferocious dog
She hobbled to the growling dog and the screaming child
And pulled the dog off the child and became its prey
And before the grateful villagers could save her
She had martyred herself to save the child
As she lay dead in the village street a bloody mess
Many wished they hadn’t been unkind to her
And today a statue of her stands in the center of the village

Bob Boyd