Shadowland |
by Summer Brenner |
|
for Stanley Tookie Williams December 29, 1953 - December 13, 2005 after the State of California murdered him by lethal injection SHADOWLAND * I am flying to South Carolina (which is true) the day after the execution (which is true) and in my dream I can't figure out how to get my brother from Atlanta to Batesburg can he take the bus? or do I have to fetch him? then in the dream I remember: my brother is dead * Long Live Tookie Williams! LONG LIVE TOOKIE WILLIAMS! * 5 pm The last of the sun explodes a canon into the sky gold and violent swollen and red speeding clouds pass the vast prison A giant maw whose tongue is asphalt whose teeth are steel whose crenelated walls are poison yellow whose moat is filled with buzzards in uniform Its vastness weighs as much as the entire earth if the poles tipped it would fall away * On either side of the bridge are competing monstrosities twin pillars of capital and state parentheses of power arcs of fire and brimstone dual curses on the land Chevron and San Quintin vulture and vampire regurgitating industrial sputum and human waste * Executives! Presidents! Bosses! Chiefs! Chairs! Directors! Corporate cannibals! Lawful criminals! fat on flesh for breakfast dinner lunch fat with signing bonus fat with severance bonus grossly fat with Protocol Policies By-Laws Mission Statements & Strategic Goals please stand and identify yourselves Murderer! Murderer! Murderer! * Dear Governor: I am writing to request Dear Governor: I beg you to grant Dear Governor: In the name of God Dear Governor: For fuck's sake * The sunset is long it pours its bloody light over the prison walls the windows glower behind the closed gate the gate is closed we can't get in they can't get out all day men wait inside while we wait out * 7 pm at the prison's iron grate a drum sounds like a heartbeat Klegg lights rise brighter than stars satellite dishes hover and glow a dozen full moons a billion wounds * A boiled face stares down at mine his eyes revolving like dice he'd like to ask me a few hostile questions he has 10 seconds to humiliate me Exculpatory evidence I shout but his listeners don’t care for details * Long Live Tookie Williams! LONG LIVE TOOKIE WILLIAMS! * 9 pm The crowd is gathering like the ions of a storm all ages all colors compress together humble multiples rising rising a roiling sea a thundering cloud * Others are waiting too savoring the taste of human sacrifice It’s a long night under the chandeliers the governor waits to go to bed his wife waits for him to go to bed See the blood red petals drop on linen like an ax on a neck * How many ways to kill a man slowly slowly the common way deprivation slowly humiliation slowly degradation slowly slowly slowly poison water poison air And for the others? chair rope bullet dope The executioner? never forget him for a minute his lonely socks his cold coffee he struggles through this night of wonder Kill! Kill! Kill! Sleep well, he’s told it is the people’s will * In every language the gods have spoken even the atheists take their turn to cry and decry everyone is crying and decrying as the night creeps toward the last hour We listen hopefully at 10:30 we are hopeful at 10:35 we are hopeful I study the blank dark sky the dark black waters tracing the rationales of hope: he couldn't he shouldn't he wouldn't * Didn't Tookie crawl out of hole? Won't they make him crawl back in? * 11:15 pm A man flips open his cell phone listens and turns to console me "Schwar...rejec..." I feel my face crack like the surface of a frozen pond the weight of hours years months weeks has broken my face I make a little cry like a little bird * “Therefore, based on the totality of circumstances..., Williams' request... is denied...” underlined so there can be no mistake or confusion Didn’t Judge Thayer go insane after Sacco and Vanzetti were murdered by his watch? * It’s midnight it's 12:01 then 12:02 Will stallions breach the walls meteors burn the sky earthquakes open the ground and swallow Shadowland? Instead there are children's voices among the chiseled silences of time Is he dead yet? The rabbi tells us we must wait to know what we already know * The condemned man (do not call him that) was given new jeans (do not call him that) offered a last meal (not to exceed $50) the condemned man (do not call him that) was asked if he had LAST WORDS * 12:11 12:12 12:13 * Surely he has been strapped to the gurney But is he dead? * Officially now it is official he is dead to life Keep reading start singing We mount the stage and sing the Song of Songs tears flow backwards into a black well of grief and life stretches before us from one holy abyss to another I wrap my arms around Crystal and Angela heroines of the movement our voices waver We'll walk hand in hand Everyone knows the song and someday flutters like a mourning veil between us and the metal bars * The cold sinks in our bones but we cling to the pavement that leads to and from the edifice of doom to and from the lifeless body and the rows of men wakened by the message flying through the corridors pummeling the massive concrete block to block cell to cell groaning TOOKIE IS DEAD! * The message circles the world at the speed of light papers in Paris Sydney London Milan Caracas Delhi Capetown Tokyo Rio New York ready their headlines TOOKIE IS DEAD! * Who is this man? A man, I say They killed a man that is enough to say * Stanley Tookie Williams born raised fed kissed spanked fled schooled ruled bled In prison the man found a mind hidden behind the walls of his head Words begat thoughts thoughts begat thoughts The man had a godly idea: If I can make hell I can unmake it The man set to work Tookie is unmaking hell the children cried from the infernal projects barrios tenements hoods the cry rang out He is unmaking hell It's too late the lawyers said Hell is good the judges said This is hell the warden said Go to hell the victims said And the children cried and cried * 1:15 am Barbara steps through the gate Barbara has a statement Barbara has been inside with Stan all day She has seen him walk into the death chamber She has watched them strap him down She has watched them fumble with needles and tubes She has watched while they snuffed him out like a flame * I embrace Barbara How are you? the most ludicrous of questions German TV asks me Numb I say numb dumb mum * 2 am Fred needs a ride Jason needs a ride we stumble past the quiet houses of San Quintin cove under the freeway along the dark road where tonight we have come and gone betrayed by hope rage energy time nothing has saved him Two thousand witnesses to their will our impotence * Over the bridge Chevron twinkles like an evil fairyland the pit never sleeps unlike prison where life is only sleep oil can't afford it business can't afford it trains ships are waiting stocks wars are waiting * That night I dream of my brother and the next day I fly to South Carolina (which is true) the day after the execution (which is true) on the plane I start to thaw and weep and remove my notebook to write * Long Live Tookie Williams! LONG LIVE TOOKIE WILLIAMS! |
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