The Missouri Review

When we learned that Terry W. Thompson, of Zanesville, Ohio, released his menagerie of animals and committed suicide last month, we asked for poems written within 48 hours in response to the tragedy.  

We received many entries to this, our first-ever 48-Hour Poem Non-Contest, but we could choose only one winner, and he is Joshua Polk. Here is Josh’s poem:

If ever I saw a lionness

standing alone                         on a highway

in the                                       middle of nowhere

I’d dream of being able

to write that way.

A poem so perfect                               so free

that the only thing

left to do                                             would be

to end this terribly                   caged, temporary

life. 

Joshua Polk is a singer, songwriter, poet and writer of fiction. He received his Bachelor’s degree in English from Portland State University, and now resides in Louisiana. He hopes to continue to write and to teach high school English. Follow him on twitter @jothopo, or find him on Facebook.