Newspoem.

2 January 1999

27 Bullets for Tyisha Shenee Miller

Riverside, CA (Associated Poets)

  • how does the LAPD perform emergency medical procedures?
  • is 19 and it is 3 days after Christmas
  • pulls into a gas station with a flat tire
  • summons her family for assistance
  • is found by her family having a seizure in the car
  • a gun on her lap
  • under no circumstances, summon the LAPD
  • is found by the police catatonic
  • her car locked her engine running
  • does not respond to their shouted instructions
  • is awakened by five policemen breaking the window of her vehicle
  • is said to have raised the gun
  • is opened fire upon
  • acted no more nor was acted upon no more
  • "...as she sat locked in a car with a gun, and black leaders and family members..."
  • the LAPD is larger than most country's armies
  • in French tour guides, with regard to Los Angeles:
  • "Under no circumstances ask the police for directions."
  • Tyisha Shenee Miller
  • Rodney King
  • and those who died unable to report the brutality
  • and those afraid to
  • and those who weren't citizens
  • and those who never learned they had rights
  • those on whose back Hollywood is paved
  • it is as simple as black and white
  • 27 bullets in Riverside California


Newspoetry at Spineless Books