by Katherine West
In Memoriam for victims of the Rochester, New York shooting.
My doctor suggests after a complete physical
He has failed to discover
The source of my trouble
Though I feel as if I will never recover
He finds nothing in the blue pools of my eyes
What could cause this endless weeping?
Blood pressure numbers don't lie
I will have a long time yet to live
No medication for what ails me
I am simply living inside-out
He seems to imply, wearing my heart on my sleeve
Where it has no business being, it has no clout
In the streets, in the slums
At the parties that are not fun
Where students lie in pools of blood
Too much love, he claims, not enough guns
Too much love, he claims, not enough guns
Where students lie in pools of blood
At the parties that are not fun
In the streets, in the slums
Where it has no business being, it has no clout
He seems to imply, wearing my heart on my sleeve
I am simply living inside-out
No medication for what ails me
I will have a long time yet to live
Blood pressure numbers don't lie
What could cause this endless weeping?
He finds nothing in the blue pools of my eyes
Though I feel as if I will never recover
The source of my trouble
He has failed to discover
My doctor suggests after a complete physical
"Perhaps you should adopt a more
conservative political orientation."
Katherine West is the author of three collections of poetry and one novel: Scimitar Dreams, The Bone Train, Riddle, and Lion Tamer, respectively. She has had poetry published in Bombay Gin, Lalitamba, Tanka Journal, Writing in a Woman’s Voice, and TheNewVerse.News who nominated her poem "And Then the Sky" for a Pushcart Prize in 2019. She lives in the mountains outside of Silver City, New Mexico where she translates Mexican revolutionary poetry and creates custom, hand-made poetry chapbooks.
