New Verse News EXTRA: 5 Poems on the Murder of Tyre Nichols
WATCH THE VIDEO
by George Held
Screenshot of the video of the murder of Tyre Nichols.
*
For Rodney King
*
After Memphis, what more can we ask video to do? After Tyre Nichols, what more can it confirm? About barbarity, good ol’ American barbarity? The Nazis had nothing on us when it comes to barbarity. Just look at the video and see those black men in uniform dishing out murderous mayhem, killing Tyre as surely as pink-cheeked SS troopers brutally murdered an old Slav or a Jew. Yes, these assassins, blond or black, and legitimized by uniform, carry out the will of the culture, brutalize the despised while we, mute, wait to watch the video.
*
George Held occasionally contributes to The NVN and has poems now in Ultimate Reality and Jerry Jazz Magazine.
*
AGAINST THE DAILY NEWS
by Tom Bauer
*
Who raised these people to use sticks against their fellow human beings and neighbors? Who taught the stick to join a team and fight, to bruise life and chase the lie of honor? Who made these sticks and guns the the tools of men? Who tells them they have enemies to fight? Who tells them to hit and kill their neighbors? Who tells the lies that form the fighting teams? Who gives them guns and laws to do these things? Who tells them they can kill people on the streets? Which of We The People will own their part? Which leader? Voter? Parent? Teacher? Judge? The enterslainment of the day? Who will own that they, that We, have sanctioned these things?
*
Tom Bauer lives and works in Montreal.
*
BINGE-WATCHING
by Daniel Romo
For Tyre
*
While viewing the reality show in which contestants make knives from piles of metal, I think of the latest group of police officers posing as contestants on their own reality show where they compete by beating and hammering out their victims, not to create an edge sharp enough to slice through water bottles and sugar cane, but to see which cop can deliver a kill shot of their own. At the end of round one, the blades are presented to the judges and whoever created the blade that needs the most correction is eliminated, while in round one, the cop on the scene that shows the most acts of compassion is gone. In round two, handles are added for grasping and the creator of the knife that hurts the hand while being wielded is sent home and in round two, the man in blue who tries to grip his colleague into submission after repeated body blows to the victim is asked not to return to the division. The final round consists of the forgers returning home to replicate a sword or ax or other weapon used in battle by an extinct civilization. Upon returning to the stage and after being tested and evaluated to see who made the most accurate and devastatingly brutal replica, the winner is selected and awarded $10,000, while the winning police officer is determined by who gets the most media coverage and who abused their authority in the worst way all while finding the most innocent man to kill.
*
Daniel Romo's latest book is Bum Knees and Grieving Sunsets (Flowersong Press 2023)
*
MURDER IN MEMPHIS
by Jean Varda
*
We all felt it when the men in uniform tore him from his car, threw him on the pavement pressed his face into the sidewalk. We all felt it when they tased and pepper sprayed him as he ran for his life. We all felt it when they punched kicked and stomped him. We all heard him when he called for his mother, as he felt his life spiral away from him and we heard her heart break.
*
Jean Varda's poetry has appeared in The New Verse News, California Quarterly, Evening Street Review, Raven's Perch, and Boston Literary Magazine. She recently published an anthology of her poetry titled: Oracle. She resides in Northern California where she leads writing groups and is writing her memoirs.
*
"WORSE" THAN RODNEY KING?
by L. Smith
*
56 baton blows. 6 neck kicks. 5 white officers. A broken leg. Multiple facial fractures. Bruises. Contusions. Laser gun burns. Worse than Rodney King? If only we could ask Rodney King— King who was jumped with expert-level lack of restraint and professional lack of protocol by five white officers—Koon, Powell, Wind, Briseno, and Solano— King who was jumped so well and so wildly, with his body writhing with each raging blow, that all semblance of protect and serve faded to black. And, 32 years post “the-video-that-changed-everything-and-nothing,” A new video we watch—we waited to watch, sat on edge for its release while it was advertised and hyped up like it was the big fight—a new video we watch to rank and to compare two police beatings 32 years apart of motorists. Unarmed black men. King and Nichols, both jumped initiation style by blue-cloaked vigilantes and folks are watching and analyzing blows like this is the big match up. Ranking police beatings? Is this the pic-a-nic culture of the not too distant south? Worse than Rodney King? If only we could ask Rodney King— Here’s a thought: Was disciplinary action against the 5 white officers who beat Rodney King worse than the disciplinary action against the 5 black officers—Haley, Mills, Martin III, Smith, and Bean—who beat Nichols? 5 black officers swiftly dealt with— dealt with in a way that’s worse than 5 white officers who beat Rodney King— 5 black officers swiftly fired for excessive use of force, Failing to intervene and failing to render aid. 32 years ago, we had 5 indictments. 5 acquittals. 3 days of violence. 60 people killed. Thousands injured. Millions of dollars of property destroyed. 32 years post “the-video-that-changed-everything-and-nothing” we again have 1 unarmed black man 1 traffic stop 5 officers 1 brutal beating 1 unarmed motorist who was not so lucky. “Rodney King was lucky.” Was he really, though? 56 baton blows? 6 neck kick? 5 white officers? A broken leg? Multiple facial fractures? Bruises? Contusions? Laser gun burns? Constitutional rights violated is luck? Assault times five is luck? “Rodney King lived.” Did he though? 32 years apart from each other, are 2 motorists—unarmed, black men brutally beaten by 5 officers while traffic-stopped and the world later watched and ranked and forgot the five white acquitted officers—Koon, Powell, Wind, Briseno, and Solano—who jumped Rodney King. Worse than Rodney King? If only you could focus on the right scales.
*
L. Smith, a New Orleans native, is a writer, an English teacher, and a Johns Hopkins University graduate who has freelanced for local newspapers.