Sunday Poetry with Jenean C. Gilstrap. A Midnight Clear in Kansas

A MIDNIGHT CLEAR IN KANSAS

it was the year 1959

that inglorious november

on the high plains of Kansas

when death came calling

upon a midnight clear

driven by greed

and stories of hidden cash

it rode in on whitewall tires

and fins of chrome

rollin’ down the cold gravel road

that became a shortcut to hell

shafts of wheat and wind breaker trees

stood silent centurions

over the sleeping farm house

where father mother son and daughter

in innocence lay

as smith and hitchcock

made their murderous way

the dreams of a kind and gentle farmer

bled out through a slashed throat and shot to the head

then room by room

single shot by single shot

shattered prayers and faces alike

as lucifer left his mark

in the beds of the innocents

white linens washed

in the blood of these lambs

the clutter family now laid to rest in their sunday best

each splintered head wrapped in swaddling cloths

the messengers of death ran but could not hide

their dastardly deeds took their toll

twelve pieces of silver times four

paid the passage to murder row

superficial tokens of two worlds converging

good versus evil acted out in cold blood

that midnight clear november

in Kansas

~

.

.

~ inspired by the novel “In Cold Blood”

By Truman Capote ~

artwork courtesy of

jenean c gilstrap