(A found poem from Tony Hillerman’s The Ghost Way)
Officer Jim Chee remembered it like this.
It was almost dark when he turned off exit 131.
Funny how a premonition works.
Someone had already gotten shot.
It was almost dark when he turned off exit 131.
Soon it would be too dark to see.
Someone had already gotten shot.
The thing to do was find the body — if there was one.
Soon it would be too dark to see.
In the great harmony, something was discordant.
The thing to do was find the body — if there was one.
The light was turning red.
In the great harmony, something was discordant.
The rusted corpses of three vehicles stood in a neat row.
The light was turning red.
A fresh blast of wind rattled sand against the windows.
The rusted corpses of three vehicles stood in a neat row.
Never speak the name of the dead.
A fresh blast of wind rattled sand against the windows.
Never go into a death hogan.
Never speak the name of the dead.
Funny how a premonition works.
Never go into a death hogan.
Officer Jim Chee remembered it like this.
Joan Wiese Johannes
Joan Wiese Johannes has been widely published in journals/anthologies and has three chapbooks and a book of poetry. Her chap Sensible Shoes was the winner of the Alabama Poetry Society’s contest in 2009 and her full-length collection, Lamenting My Failure to Learn How to Tap Dance and Other Missteps will be published by Water’s Edge Press later this year. Winner of the 2011 regional poetry award from the Mississippi Valley Poetry Society, Joan has also received awards from Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, Wisconsin People and Ideas, The HAL Contest, Free Verse, and English Journal. She co-edited the 2012 Wisconsin Poets’ Calendar and the 2019 Winter issue of Bramble with her husband Jeffrey.
Portage Magazine 