A Taste of Truth

Amy Leichtenburg’s sons Jack and Duncan were murdered by their dad while on a court-ordered visit. Despite Amy’s well-founded fear for their safety, she was told she would be arrested if she did not send them on that visit. It was the last time she saw them alive.

Here is my latest work in progress. Written for the judge and police in cases such as Amy Leichtenburg’s, who ignore clear evidence of violence and/or mental illness and order women and children to their deaths.

A Taste of Truth

At your lip
I offer
my truth

She is fresh,
cleansing
she tastes
of youth

sip …

she is
life-affirming,
refreshing,
kind
but you,
rejecting,
decline

Your grip

chokes and
crimps the hose
still
she flows

my truth

pure, beautiful
underground
she builds,
she rises
without a sound
and bursts the main
with a

rip

she floods the streets
and some night,
as you lay to sleep,
uninvited
she lands
she’s come
round-trip

my truth

in your throat
served
with a
steady,
torturous,
drowning
drip

and tainted
with your error
she tastes
of terror