Salvation by 9:00

Salvation by 9:00

Motion -- in slow motion milliseconds
the elbow bends, the wrist turns and stops
eternal seconds in the squeeze
then predetermined -- a recoil not yet perceived
a flash trails a thought, an instant
in possibility, beneath consciousness.
Heaven instantly embraced, hell rejected
as bone shatters and powder burns.
RE - frontal lobe pierced - PENT
lead and fragments tear the path
RE - conscious thought fades - PENT
flash, light, pain, forgiveness, shadow, darkness.


3:05 in the afternoon, the bus… a single
five minutes late… gunshot arrives, unloads
…to the head then loads… self-inflicted
and leaves… the victim survived by…

8:05 an empty street, salvation by 9:00.