Obstetrician Murdered by Terrorist in Amherst, New York
by Judith Arcana
This poem, written for Barnett Slepian
is here dedicated, in memoriam
and with gratitude, to George Tiller
The doctor went into the kitchen
where if you can’t stand the heat
you don’t stand by the window
and he stood there, he came in
to maybe drink a glass of water,
and there was a window in the kitchen
with no blinds, no shade, no curtains
closed in front of the doctor
while he drank his glass of water
while the man outside pulled the trigger.
In the newspaper, on television
the police chief said he thinks
that shooting was the doctor’s fault
the doctor was not careful
the chief had told him not to
stand there in the kitchen
by the window, not to put butter
on bread, no strawberry jam, no soup
in front of the window
with no shades or blinds or curtains.
All the doctors who want a glass of water
were told not to stand, they were told
to pull the shades
shut the curtains
close the blinds
but maybe the doctor wanted
maybe he wanted to live
his own life, as long as he had it
he wanted his life to stand:
he wanted to stand in his own life.