Texas carried out its third execution of 2010 in July in Huntsville. It was the 450th Texas execution since 1982. Texas has far and away the most active death chamber in America, accounting for more than 37% of the nation's post-Furman executions.
Huntsville, TX
It’s a death day.
The clock on the wall of the diner
Ticks away minutes that I cannot ignore.
I wonder if there’s clock
relentlessly moving forward
where the condemned sits…
Doing his waiting.
I know it’s not like waiting for bacon and eggs
Or a fresh cup of coffee.
I know it’s not like waiting for a lover
Or for dawn to slowly emerge from a night sky.
I fidget with my spoon
as it occurs to me how lucky I am
to be able to waste time today.
I bet the condemned is not -
Not lucky, not wasting time.
The coffee is hot, the eggs, scrambled.
I glance out the window
and catch sight of an airplane
climbing in the clear blue sky.
Its body shines silver,
lit by sunrays.
Will the condemned’s spirit rise
like that plane?
Exhilarated to be freed from its carnal shell
that held it, that committed such atrocities
that its time here on earth
is decreed finished?
Or will the spirit, with infinite compassion,
Quietly leave with sadness for the body it vacates.
I look at my eggs;
They’ve grown cold.
July 8th, 2010
Copyright 2010 Kimberly Hillard
Oh wow! what a powerhouse of a closing on this poem. The metaphor of the cold eggs and the cold dead is too real in the hour of death. Fantastic opening and closing on this poem. it even sings a dirge the way the stanzas are paced. Well done Kim. A poet friend//RH peat
A touching poem...a compassionate heart.
I don''t know anything. but it seems an excellent tribute to the event. You poignantly created the moment, so expressively mirroring the event. Fascinating.