 |
| WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court . . . blocked the next three executions scheduled in Oklahoma pending its review of the state's controversial three-drug cocktail for lethal injections. The ruling was expected, since both lawyers for the convicted murderers and the state itself had urged the justices to intervene. But Oklahoma also wanted the court to allow executions to resume if it could find a replacement drug, and the court left open that possibility. --USA Today, January 28, 2015; Cartoon source: Penn Live |
If the supreme court
Says 43 minutes
Writhing squirming
On death cot
Is cruel and unusual,
We have tried true
tested alternatives.
Shave head, part of leg
To welcome flow of electrons,
Strap chest, legs to chair
Metal skullcap
electrodes on head
Moisten sponge---
j-u-s-t right
Hood over head
Flip switch---
Asphyxiation
Cardiac arrest
nervous system Paralyzed
Defecation, urination
Smoke steam Escape
from body
Boiling Blood
“The body’s temperature
becomes so hot, the flesh
falls off
if touched”
Third fourth
degree burns
Body may catch
Fire
The Sound of
Sizzling Bacon tickles
your ears
Eyeballs pop out,
but rest comfortably
on cheeks
Body bleeding
body Cooking, The
sweet smell
of broiled vulgar Flesh
permeates the chamber
into your nostrils.
Gil Hoy is a regular contributor to The New Verse News. He is a Boston trial lawyer and studied poetry at Boston University, majoring in philosophy. Gil started writing his own poetry and fiction in February of last year. Since then, his poems and fiction have been published in multiple journals, most recently in The Potomac, The Zodiac Review, Harbinger Asylum and Earl of Plaid Literary Journal.