the speaker
they brought him into school
to address the warrior nation
and I sat in the little theater
so happy to miss math
this cat spent most of his adult
life in and out of prison
and he spoke softly and slowly
as if he once walked dead
his tales of thievery involving
blunt knives and drugs
and smoking guns
proved to be entertaining
until he bent down
on one knee
and proceeded to reenact
that night
he held his girlfriend’s lifeless body
in his tattered arms
I hid my eyes beneath my hand
and looked around the room
trying to figure out which one of us
would be tomorrow’s speaker
april two thousand thirteen
copyright j matthew waters
all rights reserved






a scary tale. and no one would want to be the next speaker, if that involves going through some of the things he said and enacted
yes, you got that right
Chilling!
thank you
The word I was going to use was chilling, and apparently I’m not the only one who thinks that way. This is a incredibly powerful poem.
Thank you Greg, so glad you think so.
John, I didn’t really want to press like… and chilling is so appropriate. I really like this poem, and hopefully it had some effect on the attitudes.
I understand the reluctance to press “like” button – thank you for your assessment here.