-Louie. the tough guy-

Luigi Mezzotesta was small of stature,

smaller than any of the other boys

at the Hugo A. Dubuque School,
smaller than more than half the girls.

Louie was a punk.

Louie was the Rico Bandello of the hallways.

Louie was like a small, mad dog

who doesn't realize the fierce significance of the doberman

and goes yap yap yap yap yap yap yapping 

directly into the snout of the disbelieving pinscher.

the after-school fistfight with Manny Mederios,

(last row at the back wall) lasted all but four seconds.

one punch and Louie's nose was swelling, blue and bloody.

Louie just laid there, propped-up by his elbows in the middle

of the dry, yellow meadow behind the billboards
staring into the blood-red tincture of semiconsciousness
exhibiting the blank expression of the dazed wildebeest

clamped at the neck by the jaws of the lioness on the savanna, which 

was altogether a fitting end of the day for Luigi Mezzotessta. the tough guy.

1952? 1951?