G. Louis Heath- A Poem

Bio-blurb:

    

G. Louis Heath, Ph.D., Berkeley, 1969, teaches at Ashford University, Clinton, Iowa. He enjoys reading his poems at open mics. He often hikes along the Mississippi River, stopping to work on a poem he pulls from his back pocket, weather permitting. His books include Mutiny Does Not Happen Lightly, Long Dark River Casino and Vandals In The Bomb Factory. His most recent poems have been published in Poppy Road Review, Writing Raw, Inkstain Press, Verse-Virtual, and Squawk Back. He can be contacted at gheathorov@gmail.com

Even On The Gallows

you cannot have your say.

Spit at the black hood,

he’ll take you down,

torture you with tongs,

tweak you with hot coals,

adjust your back on a rack,

run a mouse up an orifice,

probably fundamental.

So, it’s fundamentally a good

idea not to spit at the black

hood. You’ve got to think of

your wife, kids, and kin.

Keep your saliva to yourself

as your throat rattles death.

Swallow it with your last breath.