GNATS END by Jeff Clemmons

Darlene saw the jet's vapor trails streak across the vivid azure sky as tears rolled down her cheeks and gathered like small ponds of sorrow at the base of her head, which was cratered in the bloody soil of the garden behind her house.

Her momma had told her to leave those boys alone. That they were nothing but trouble; evil bred amongst the kudzu and ignorance that swallows up Gnats End.

But what do moms know. And it was Darlene who had begged them over.