In the aftermath of the killing of George Floyd, I have been rereading some of my poems in my collection about police misconduct, Sometimes Blue Knights Wear Black Hats. I am even more disturbed now than when in 1995 I started writing poems taken from headlines of police misconduct and police killings of the innocents, especially kids. This poem, “The Slaughter of the Innocents, is from said collection:

Another policeman stands accused

Of yet another innocent’s death.

Community pressure on prosecutors

To indict this killer cop.

A 13-year-old boy with a toy gun,

Like a common criminal shot dead.

One moment alive, playing cops and robbers,

The next dead – a moment far too many parents dread!

At the morgue, the parents identify their boy,

A still life picture of him on a stainless steel slab –

Recent memories of him playing with his toy.

Mother and father dab at their eyes.

They look at their dead son in disbelief,

Unable to contain their unspeakable grief.