Sunday, July 20, 2014

arrested

arrested
for reading aloud after curfew
the names of the dead . . .
how far their voices carry
in the dark

       ~Atlas Poetica 17, March 15, 2014


IQ testing 
of an inmate
on death row—
a pencil hovers 
over the final question

       ~A Hundred Gourds 3:3, June 2014



2 comments:

  1. A great pairing of socially relevant tanka.

    What's the setting for the first one?

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  2. Thanks, Janet! The setting of the first poem is the Vietnam Veterans' Memorial in New York City--not something I witnessed directly, but I read about it.

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