It’s side-lined into a
narrow column – a small subtext,
the “also playing” beneath
the marquee
narrow column – a small subtext,
the “also playing” beneath
the marquee
after 87 years of living
she was apt to wander,
in a bit of fog, no matter
the weather
Into a neighboring field,
a kitchen knife in hand
to collect dandelions in
a plastic bag
for tea, or a salad,
or to wilt, forgotten
on a kitchen counter
on this day, while she cut some
weeds with her knife, tucked them
into her bag, the police grew in
the clearing
they felt threatened by
this slow-moving Syrian
woman, short and stout
with the gray hair
under a brown scarf
who didn’t speak English,
who couldn’t understand
what they wanted from her
and so they acted in the
spirit of the day - in the
climate change that we have
grown accustomed to
tasered her with a blast to the chest –
where she fell among her weeds
certain she had been shot
certain she had made a terrible mistake
she was apt to wander,
in a bit of fog, no matter
the weather
Into a neighboring field,
a kitchen knife in hand
to collect dandelions in
a plastic bag
for tea, or a salad,
or to wilt, forgotten
on a kitchen counter
on this day, while she cut some
weeds with her knife, tucked them
into her bag, the police grew in
the clearing
they felt threatened by
this slow-moving Syrian
woman, short and stout
with the gray hair
under a brown scarf
who didn’t speak English,
who couldn’t understand
what they wanted from her
and so they acted in the
spirit of the day - in the
climate change that we have
grown accustomed to
tasered her with a blast to the chest –
where she fell among her weeds
certain she had been shot
certain she had made a terrible mistake
© Lianne Kamp
Lianne Kamp resides in Boston, Massachusetts. Her poems and short stories appear in assorted print journals and on-line publications including: Poets Reading the News, Rattle’s Ekphrastic Challenge, Scarlet Leaf Review, Poetry Quarterly, Dual Coast Magazine, and a number of Prolific Press anthologies. She writes poetry to make her world-view more panoramic by examining it more closely.