.
To those of us who knew him
– his friends –
we called him Roy.
To others he was known
as that horrible Toxic Boy.
.
He loved ammonia and asbestos,
and lots of cigarette smoke.
What he breathed in for air
would make most people choke!
.
His very favorite toy
was a can of aerosol spray;
he’d sit quietly and shake it,
and spray it all the day.
.
He’d stand inside of the garage
in the early-morning frost,
waiting for the car to start
and fill him with exhaust.
.
The one and only time
I ever saw Toxic Boy cry
was when some sodium chloride
got into his eye.
.
One day for fresh air
they put him in the garden.
His face went deathly pale
and his body began to harden.
.
The final gasp of his short life
was sickly with despair.
Whoever thought that you could die
from breathing outdoor air?
.
As Roy’s soul left his body,
we all said a silent prayer.
It drifted up to heaven
and left a hole in the ozone layer.
.
Eva Marasca 