Poem: I Was (Friends With) A Teenage Psychopath

A poem about watching a lot of horror films, and being able to process them quite differently from others my age. Well, one person in particular...

We watched a lot of horror films, mostly
silly ones — for fun. In French class, the
Teach asked us to draw pictures of our
family members — we’d add the names
and relationships (en Francais) after.
Richard asked if could draw Freddy,
teacher asked if that was an uncle. “Oh,
he’s more than an uncle to me”, he replied
cryptically. Then drew four pages
of Freddy Krueger mutilating babies…

Handed it in with a grin, waved to
the class as he went to say whatever
to the principal. This, the dead birds,
spitting in his brother’s food, the way
he talked about sex — earlier than
any of us. It all started to add up.
My bike tire slashed one day, but he
offered to help me look for the cunt
that did it. I think I knew that cunt
was far closer than I would have liked…