It starts
with a bang
a 21 year old
a 13 year old
8 shots ring out
aiming for
a passing car
police on the scene
the teen on the run
a gun in his hand
1 officer
a 34 year old
chasing
down an alley
running
the cop
yells stop
the gun
drop it
running
drop it
an opening
in a fence
stopping
drop it
turn around
hands up
a split second
1 shot fired
1 dead
Afterword: My poem Ferguson-Rashomon published some six years ago in response to the incident in Missouri now becomes an antecedent to this latest poetic effort of mine to come to grips with yet another such tragedy for which bodycam video has now been released; this time it’s my hometown on the streets of Chicago, on the streets of America. Oh, what about the title? The boy is pronounced dead at the scene at 2:46 a.m.
