Melanie Browne- Three Poems

AnOtHeR ShOoTiNg

and we think
about the people we
flipped off in traffic
and the lady who tried
to start a conversation
with us but we only
looked down at our shoes,
the kid we laughed at
in the third grade was
he one of them?
we know the details
already so we watch
the season finale of
a popular show
and we think
I'm lonely too
and i didnt shoot
anybody,
whats their problem
a bunch of fruitcakes,
I'm lonely too
we think,
I'm lonely too



Visiting the prison Museum

we walk through
the portraits of
the death row
inmates,
the fallen
dentention officers,
the electric chair,
a pistol recovered from
Bonnie & Clyde's car,
contraband including
homemade tattoo
machines,
weapons made with
chow-hall forks,
we take pictures
in the jail cell,
buy t-shirts & a book,
we drive away
back to our lives
not very much changed



Justin Bieber

baptized at 2am
in a golden bathtub
surrounded by the
haunted screaming of
10 year old girls,
hoping to escape his
twitter transgressions,
his egg-throwing escapades
& xanax lunacy,
Justin Bieber
baptized at 2:30 am
press conference
immediately following-
the young shivering
pop star drinking
perrier making
plans for his
post-baptism life
which he hopes
will be really
awesome with
less legal
hassles