by Richard Schnap
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| A crowd in Selma, Alabama before the historic March 1965 march. Photograph by STEVE SCHAPIRO, “The Long Road from Selma” in The New Yorker, 22-29 December 2014. |
I hear the cry
Of a distant siren
Wondering if it will bring
A mother to tears
And I hear the words
Of a holy man’s sermon
Instructing small children
On the best ways to kill
And I hear the testimony
Of a fat politician
Saying that those tortured
Got what they deserved
And I hear the ticks
Of a madman’s clock
Moving with precision
Backwards in time
Richard Schnap is a poet, songwriter and collagist living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His poems have most recently appeared locally, nationally and overseas in a variety of print and online publications.