The silent part in explicit words
yelled out in full amplification
total force delivered with spittle
drops hitting you in the stricken
Face of surprise & stunned shock
how could this happen where some
how confessing their crime before
its commission absolutely absolves
The criminal of any real possibility
of being held responsible for what
has actually now been, oh, too finally
done, oh, how can he be this guilty
Of that to which he has confessed
means no crime could possibly pass
the test criminal intent so arrest is
out of the question so don’t mention
It again and again, again confession
precedes the brutal crime the rhyme
that rings the bell of what can be done
to find where all the money has gone.
James Van Looy has been a fixture in Boston’s poetry venues since the 1970s. He is a member of Cosmic Spelunker Theater and has run poetry workshops for Boston area homeless people at Pine Street Inn and St. Francis House since 1992. Van Looy leads the Labyrinth Creative Movement Workshop, which his Labyrinth titled poems are based on. His work appears weekly in Oddball Magazine.