"Words' Worth" Poetry Readings
Poets at the Culture, Arts, and Parks Committee
of the Seattle City Council.
Two Poems For A Seattle Police
Officer Who
Committed Suicide After Being
Harassed For A
Decade By His Peers by David D Horowitz
I.
Ten years ago your partner beat,
A handcuffed prisoner, so you
Reported it back. Back on the street
You walked your beat alone-pariah.
True
To your principal (your partner cleared),
Your steady work excelled
As "snitch", "rat," and worse were
smeared
Across your locker door, compelled
To act on principal, but hurt,
Your hell stayed hidden ten full years
Before you blasted bullets through your
heart
And earned, at funeral, the praise of
peers.
II.
Tormentors sense a weakness. Yours
Was wanting their approval. Ostracized
For principal and honesty, harassed
By bullies seeking sport, at last
You fired back, - your suicide
Completed their campaign. You locked
the
Doors
And opened your heart. Two shots.
Your uniform, though bloody, kept its
crease.
Your heart, which had been tied in
knots,
Perhaps found some release.
Near Distance by David D Horowitz
Clouds moor in flamingo-gold lagoon
Above beachfront boatmasters,
sheds, and palms
Whose frondly plumage whispers
calm
Beneath a full but unobtrusive moon.
Heat sinks into sand beneath the breeze;
The spectral skyline's geometric
shapes
Behind the shoreline's still
watercraft drape
The bay reflection and dwarf the trees.
Yet there is an ocean edge, a beach.
A light on the cusp of distance
blinks,
Exciting those on shore tonight
to think
Of all beyond the city's, and humans',
reach.
Note to a Cynic by David D Horowitz
A grape in brine
Cannot yield wine.
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