wildscape. literary journal

Tell Us Who Killed Them
by CLR Dore

should you ever dare to accuse me of murder, 
I want to feel the hurricane in your mouth 
felling your last      	wisdom tooth, 
sustained winds racing 
to my mother’s house, 
tearing her 	  panel 
& pride	          asunder, 
her contempt poisoning the wild palms, 
              & her penniless scream as the insurance 
men dive back into 	the swamp, 
the bog stench 	        choke slamming me, 
grinning gators rolling 
                                        as they referee

               my crime of passion 
                           propped 
                           pillar by 
                           capital debris, 
               mural memorial tag 
                           & tatter acrylic,
                           wheat pasted 
                           by prodigal 
                           rhyme cleric, 
marching dry mouth demonstration 
                           be cause 
                           the cause 
               the thermometer climbs, 
               the salt water cooks, 
               the wood stove bakes– 
               smoke signal sin rise 
               at your god’s & my god’s 
                           back door,
 
               & notarized in 
                           the concrete
                                        lay our convict demands:

hear the avenging thunder 		& feel the juried lightning, 
eat the paper perpetrators,	 	the active sentence 
of my sentences, 			                savored over sweetened, 
where 					                the reporter’s camera clicks & bangs
a headshot, 				                the editor 
swims Olympic front to back 		side by side, & the dancer 
kicking off the ballroom shoes 	        retiring from show business for good.

about the author // CLR Dore