WALKING MY DOG 2020

by Gina A. Turner

I say to my husband, “Sure, I’ll
walk the dog,” although I’m tired. I have
trouble sleeping because I worry that I’m no
good shield, should a pickup truck
drive by, and seeing me, choose to flex with
a gun to show me who’s really the boss, the
bullet hitting the dog, not me, because devils
know that emotional pain is the worst pain, and creations
of pain make some folks feel good, now.

Gina A. Turner is a professor of psychology at a community college in Pennsylvania, and lives in New Jersey. 

WE REAL COPS

by Deirdre Fagan

The two vigilantes in their pickup chase Ahmaud Arbery whom they eventually kill.

After Gwendolyn Brooks

THE VIGILANTES.

TWO IN A PICKUP.

We real cops. We
Pop pops. We

Shoot straight. We
Leak lead. We

Trim thin. We
Spin sin. He

Die soon. We
Gain fame.

Deirdre Fagan is a widow, wife, mother of two, and associate professor and coordinator of creative writing in the English, Literature, and World Languages Department at Ferris State University. Fagan is the author of a chapbook of poetry Have Love published by Finishing Line Press. Her poetry, fiction, nonfiction, and academic essays on poetry, memoir, and pedagogy are available in various creative and academic print and online journals and collections.