Armand Noy

Armand Noy
Was a horrible boy
Mean clear through.
His meanness
Was his only shield
Against the expectations
Of what he’d encounter
Because at home
Every lesson learnt
Was punctuated with
fists or stripes
From a wide leather belt
Across his back and legs
He’d only been hit once
With the fancy buckle
That his uncle Josh
Won at Frontier Days
Rodeo in Cheyenne
He never went
To a hospital
For the cut
On his side
Finally, he healed
Enough to walk
So, he puffed up
His chest
And reestablished
His reign of terror
Over our neighborhood
Today a new kid moved
Into our neighborhood
Before he knew it
He’d broken a rule
So Armand shot him
With a 12 gauge
Shotgun
Loaded with buckshot
Making a large hole
Where his lungs
Used to be
When Armand snuck
The loaded gun
From the very back
Of his grandfather’s closet
Secretly he never intended
To hurt any one
How then did he become
The killer of the new kid,
With fuzzy red hair
On his first day
In the neighborhood
What can Armand do now