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May 26, 2012
Revolver in a Bag of Puppets by *PursuingTheCerberus The suggester writes, "This poignant poem about a high-profile suicide deals with a sensitive subject with subtlety, while retaining a high degree of immediacy."
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Literature Text
Revolver in a Bag of Puppets
For Christine Chubbuck
On a fiery July morning
your eyes opened with intention
to involve innocents
in a cold steel plot
detailed on pages
in the bowels of your briefcase
wishes birthed in solitude—
no light, no hope
Did your hands shake
as you buttoned your blouse?
Did your coffee
go cold in the cup?
Did your eggs
burn in the pan?
Did you think of the children
watching that day,
as the camera's eye
transmitted your pain live in color?
A thirty-eight caliber Smith and Wesson
drawn from a shopping bag full of puppets
One shot
fired behind the right ear
Your head
slammed against the desk
Dead
calm
Screens faded to black
control panels fell dark
Eyes aghast
in silent horror
Your final statement
against the sensationalism you detested
Irony articulated
through a tempest of permanence
Your sorrow felt
like bombs over paradise
============================
COPYRIGHT 2014, William Barker
All my work has copyrights
with the Library of Congress.
No usage without my permission
regardless of circumstance.
For Christine Chubbuck
On a fiery July morning
your eyes opened with intention
to involve innocents
in a cold steel plot
detailed on pages
in the bowels of your briefcase
wishes birthed in solitude—
no light, no hope
Did your hands shake
as you buttoned your blouse?
Did your coffee
go cold in the cup?
Did your eggs
burn in the pan?
Did you think of the children
watching that day,
as the camera's eye
transmitted your pain live in color?
A thirty-eight caliber Smith and Wesson
drawn from a shopping bag full of puppets
One shot
fired behind the right ear
Your head
slammed against the desk
Dead
calm
Screens faded to black
control panels fell dark
Eyes aghast
in silent horror
Your final statement
against the sensationalism you detested
Irony articulated
through a tempest of permanence
Your sorrow felt
like bombs over paradise
============================
COPYRIGHT 2014, William Barker
All my work has copyrights
with the Library of Congress.
No usage without my permission
regardless of circumstance.
Literature
End of the World?
"End of the world?" Richard looked up from his newspaper. "Bollocks! The world will always be here. What you really mean is it's the end of humanity!"
Dumping the paper down on the curb next to him he got to his feet. "If the crazies with shotguns or the blasted zombies don't get us all, this waiting will! I say lets go out with a little style! What d'ya think, Mertle? Shotgun or chainsaw?"
Unfortunately for Richard, the voice he heard answer him was nothing beyond his own mind because Mertle was in fact, an old microwave sitting on the street, with a sm
Literature
blasphemy
in a Heaven no grander than a forest, He sat upon a throne weaved of ivy and wild roses; it was there He first touched the Universe, and it was there He came to find the thriving rock He named earth. absent lives were flitting about in oceans deep and dark, and He sought to make company, entertainment, using His vast power to manipulate these beings' path. they grew until they resembled His intention, but before the first man thought of the savannah's cruelty or had any thought besides instinct, angels were birthed of the Lord's passing thoughts
He would breathe and exhale
lights that cuddled like sweet birds,
tucked close for warmth
Literature
Where are regrets kept?
Perhaps in the hollow
space between
my clavicle
and scapula-
That's where your chin
rested all summer long
and that's where the tears
fell in September.
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This poem is taken from Shards (poems 2007-2010) available here: www.lulu.com/shop/william-bark…
**HUGE thank you to for her input/critique. This poem wouldn't have been completed without her!
1/16/2012
Christine Chubbuck was a television host and deeply sad woman who committed suicide on live television in 1974.
**HUGE thank you to for her input/critique. This poem wouldn't have been completed without her!
1/16/2012
Christine Chubbuck was a television host and deeply sad woman who committed suicide on live television in 1974.
© 2011 - 2024 PursuingTheCerberus
Comments100
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I still come back to read this one. Hope you are well.