Flies on Shit by Frank Stanford

To the gentlemen from the south   
to the tourists from the north
who write poems about the south   
to the dumb-ass students
I’d like to ask one lousy question
have you ever seen a regatta of flies
sail around a pile of shit
and then come back and picnic on the shit
just once in your life have you heard
flies on shit
because I cut my eye teeth on flies
floating in shit