CONTENT WARNING: PANTOUM.....................................................................................................ALEJANDRO ESCUDÉ

RUNNER UP

Content Warning: Pantoum

Poem by Alejandro Escudé

We warn you this video may contain graphic images, the man is a blood-chalice, the woman is saying sir and the uniform stands firm as the camera captures the road, elbows and hands, the zip-zip of cuffs.

The man is a blood-chalice, an alphabet of red, sir you shot my boyfriend, she says, don’t tell me he’s gone. The crying baby is somewhere suspended in dread over a road of hardened elbows, hands, zip-zip of cuffs.

You shot my boyfriend, she says, don’t tell me he’s gone, the uniform stands firm, the woman is saying sir on a road of interlocking elbows, the zip-zip of cuffs. We warn you this video may contain graphic images.

We warn you this video may contain graphic images. The policemen approach from angles, spider-like, the camera to the woman’s face, her voice unravelling as she summons the facts, “You shot four bullets…”

From angles, the policemen approach, spider-like, saying “sort” and “out,” as if death were not final. The man is a man no more, a head-tossed savior, his body like a white bloody blanket over the seat.

Saying “sort” and “out,” as if death were not final, the uniform stands firm as the camera captures his body like a white bloody blanket over the seat. We warn you this video may contain graphic images.