H.J VandeRiet’s work has appeared with Semicolon Magazine, BEATS Periodical, SWP Guerilla
Magazine, and HSS Magazine. She perfers to write fiction, but also engages with poetry and
hybrid forms. She runs a Wordpress blog called “Buslife Adventures in Parenting,” and is in the
process of editing a 60,000 word manuscript.
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Want to read H.J.'s blog? Want to hear her words? Check below:
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Face the Names
How many
one must wonder
how many
how many
how many
died too young,
died too soon, too sudden too senseless—
How many faces
can you stomach?
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Did you ever
know
their names,
Did you ever
care
to find out—
Were they
really
criminals?
How many
of you
are unaccounted,
for, this list only
lists the accounted
for, how then
did you meet
this fate?
Did you have
a gun,
a hooded-sweater,
were you stealing?
Were you screaming,
were you emotional,
emotion, raw emotion,
fear and failing,
you and your assailant,
how many
do we
blame?
How many of you
were shot
because you were
the wrong
color?
How many
of you,
were simply in
the wrong place at the
wrong time, how many
of you
were aggressive,
how many
of you
weren’t looking
at your surroundings,
how many
of you,
did not make
the evening news,
how many
pleaded because you
could not breathe,
you did not know
you were
suspicious.
How many
of the punished
fit the crime?
Lines drawn, Lines
of blue, of black, of white
of brown, of lines that
draw
a conclusion,
an accusation.
Will we ever
see
their faces, really
see their faces,
know their stories,
hear a side, hear
a lamentation,
hear the truth, speak
the truth, know
the truth, know
who to trust,
Will we ever
know
How many?