168

168
A poem about the day the Oklahoma City bomber was executed.

Hordes of reporters milling around,
Interviewing each other.
Desperately searching for an illusive scoop.
They can't interview the 168.

National media provides blitz coverage,
Hourly, then by the minute.
Everything you don't want to know.
What about the 168?

What did he say, what was he wearing,
What does he think?
As if this was important.
What about the 168?

Constant repetition almost makes him a folk hero,
A man admired for his stoicism.
He's the hot news today.
What about the 168?

National media giving advice to the survivors,
telling them how they are supposed to feel, to act, to think.
As if these national hotshots knew anything.
What about the 168?

Second by second, we hear how he died,
Eye-witness accounts are the holy grail.
Much ado about the demise of a killer.
What about the 168?

True justice might have been better served,
Had no one bothered to attend.
He would have been exterminated, unnoticed.
And that would honor the 168.