Sunday, February 13, 2011

'Collage: Murder Mystery' by Hugh Behm-Steinberg


    
    
                                        An eight year old boy.
                           Exclusive photos:  two brothers:
           How do you plan an accident?
                              One went to Harvard,
     he possesses an intelligence
Dr. Owens said, the other went to hell:
           he’s adapting....it is difficult to
 believe, he was tried three times.  After dozens of
         witnesses, Arthur doesn’t drink booze
  or gamble         he remains wary of men.
             For weeks no one would have thought
                   of a huge prehistoric mammoth, all we found
were clumps of gray animal fur.  Santiago couldn’t keep
       his big mouth shut, so no one would believe him, he was
           convicted of second degree murder, a few footprints
                   in Northern Mississippi, our perseverance
       nearly wasn’t enough:
               Arthur was in his final year of law school, it
      paid off, he took a job so he could help his brother,
           he found a tooth,
                       and it seems it would allow him
   to get the conviction overturned, to let his brother
                 be conscious of his mistakes,
                                  his three daughters, his own
         existence.  He seems
to be reasonably intelligent, sincere in wanting
               the things we learn, to get his
                     life in order and save himself.
  He says I think these things belong
       to all mankind.  Arthur Stratton Jr. said
                 he would donate the rare fossil
                            to a natural history museum.





(published in Grand Street 45, 1993)

No comments:

Post a Comment