For Four Years, At Least

By Mark J. Mitchell

For Lyle Grosjean and those of us who walk

None shall kill when all are completed.         

—Kenneth Patchen

Our boots—
brown, heavy and clunky
as gray cinderblocks—
can rest at the backs
of our cluttered closets unless
bright wild flower hills
call us by name.

The green room—
new, shiny, its long table
still wrapped in clear plastic—
will stay empty. No pink
flesh will feel the bite
of silver needles. The window
will be blurred by dust. No one
need witness human sacrifice.

We will not walk
across the red bridge
on blue mornings except
to share quiet joy in each
the other’s company, watching the white
city and the green hills—
our walks yellow and bright
as summer.

For four years, at least,
the machinery of death
will be left to rust.

 Mark J. Mitchell’s novel, The Magic War, appeared from Loose Leaves Publishing. He studied  at Santa Cruz under Raymond Carver and George Hitchcock. His work has appeared in several anthologies and hundreds of periodicals. He lives with his wife, Joan Juster, making his living pointing out pretty things in San Francisco. Since 1978, he has walked from San Francisco to San Quentin, with a likeminded group, each time an execution has been scheduled.

Photo by Tanya Nevidoma on Unsplash.