by Carolyn Gregory
Who will be the next target,
now that the current one's
out of commission,
gunned down without a trace
of hair or lingering DNA?
Will he own a gold mine,
fleet of ships
or sovereign state
with pristine beaches,
deep wells not run dry?
Perhaps the next target
will surface three-headed
with a single ruby eye
or come to us in his final
incarnation, spurs at his heels
riding a gorgon,
flames shooting from his mouth.
Whatever happens,
we are guaranteed another target
for practice,
setting up another hunt,
dogs sniffing out
wet footprints of his trail.
Carolyn Gregory's poems and essays on music have been published in American Poetry Review, Main Street Rag, Bellowing Ark, Seattle Review, and Stylus. She was featured in For Lovers and Other Losses. She was nominated for a Pushcart Prize for poetry in 2011 and is a past recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council award. Her book, Open Letters, was published by Windmill Editions in 2009 and her next, Facing the Music, will be published in 2012.
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