how irreverence lay's down.

It's the Five O'clock Eyewitness News

and the man with the hair braided of inviolability

says he saw the arm as it pointed the gun

from the window of the yellow Impala. And

that was all he saw. Which was

everything we ever wanted from

eyewitness testimonies. Not the

face of the killer, just his red shirt as

the tires squealed past darkened porches in

broad daylight.

Oh,

how poetry's power to bear witness

is so outdated.

So inherently passive.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

so are we the ones wearing the red shirts? or are we the witnesses who sometimes don't even know the color of the shirt...

i don't know how passive we are....might seem that way since our weapon and witness is all in words...but we try to speak truth...

and all in broad daylight.


you create a moment so well, and then it squeals its tires, and is past.

[h d e rushin]

thank you brother.....But you are the bravest one among us.....
I always love your words....dana

[Lydia Shutter]

All we have are our words.....whether they be red or checkered. You bring us to the scene so vividly with your imagery. I could almost hear the tires squealing, Dana. Is our poetry outdated? No, I don't think so. I think it will last long after that Yellow Impala. Lydi**

[h d e rushin]

thank you Lydi....you're the best.....dana

[kmartell]

succinct poem...

, and yet poetry is the strongest news of all.

who are we as we listen, if we do not find ourselves in what we say.

[h d e rushin]

excellent point kmartell...thank you my friend....dana

[writing mojo]

hues have more then a memory stamp they have a trajectory of reflection being in the moment as binary
need codes of blue, images need words..excellent piece

[h d e rushin]

thank you brother...dana

[Beccy]

I am minded that even the act of writing lifts passive to an action of sorts. Although, and despite dear old Euripides, who proclaimed such a very long time ago that 'The tongue is mightier than the blade.' it seems best not to hold one's breath for such an eventuality.

However, as for real and the power of poetry; I can only offer that narrative poetry predates almost every other form of communication, and I do believe the progeny of Mr Wordsworth daffodils are still blooming around Glencoyne Bay. :)

Wonderfully thought provoking lines. Beccy.

[h d e rushin]

thank you Beccy for always being there for me....I love you so much....dana

[wordman]

you know it`s more exiciting like that,now you can put a dozen faces to that arm and gun

[h d e rushin]

thank you wordman for those wonderful comments ....dana

[W.k.kortas]

An Impala? Man, that is one second-tier gang-banger. I suspect the narration may not be telling us the truth, the whole truth, and so on--this is bearing witness, but it's the stuff of the nameless, the faceless, the pointless (it does not escape notice that the only proper name is given to one of GM's finest), and I suspect our good author does not view "outdated" as such a bad thing--some frustration at the limits of poetry, perhaps (I think that is there in the final line), but not a thing to bekicked to the curb, either.

[h d e rushin]

can we valorize poetry wk or even defend it for being a living archive when memory has become our most booming industry. That's why I think it's important for poetry to be not of real events,
but mystical ones; hell even spiritual ones. We'll leave the real stuff for Lester Holt.
Your last poem was fabulous.....

thank you my friend....dana