Tuesday, November 15, 2011

BLOOD MOON KANSAS CITY

by Christina Pacosz


Anything moving in the wee hours
is fair game    Like a hunter in a woodsy blind
these urban shooters kill at a moment's notice
A woman walking home from the store on Sunday at 3 AM
with bread she'd purchased
thankfully expected to recover
Six people total murdered over the weekend
Three in a house    One of them the childhood friend
of the new first time ever
black police chief
Another two men killed
in an apartment
A body found in a burning house
ruled arson and murder

November nights
moonlight and gunfire
An unmistakeable sound
not that far in the distance


Born and raised in Detroit by working-class Polish-American parents, Christina Pacosz’  poetry/writing has appeared in literary magazines and online journals for almost  half a century. A poet-in-the-schools and a North Carolina Visiting Artist, she has published several books of poetry, including Greatest Hits, 1975-2001, Pudding House, 2002, a by-invitation-only series.  Her chapbook, Notes from the Red Zone, originally published by Seal Press in 1983, was selected as the inaugural winner of the ReBound Series by Seven Kitchens Press in 2009.
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