Ken Gierke

 

Civic Lesson

 

I live in a foreign land
backwater barbaric
where the death penalty is
accepted condoned imposed
without a second thought

ask Marcellus Williams
convicted sentenced
in 2004 on death row
the only evidence –
two informants

one a former girlfriend facing
solicitation charges, the other
a fellow prisoner, suspended
sentence, and both paid cash
what could go wrong there?

until 2017, when the governor
formed a board of inquiry
to evaluate a clemency request
new evidence, DNA
that demonstrates his innocence

evidence still not heard in court
is meaningless when
an inquiry issued by a governor
can be dissolved by a governor
with no avenue for appeal

the governor, successor to
the previous, dissolved the board
without hearing its recommendation
removed the stay of execution
now set for September

I’ve been in Missouri
more than ten years
my civic lesson
continues, and this seems
less like home than it ever has