< third from the left >

[rayheinrich]

                  < third from the left >*

                this
                picture in today's news
                another informational announcement
                from our government:

                "new humane methods of execution"

                this
                picture of padded chairs
                headrests curving up
                heads
                already strapped in
                colored tubes
                sewn to their mouths
                which
                (the article goes on to say)
                makes it all quite painless

                all this
                from reading today's news
                from recognizing you
                third from the left

                        - - -






*Found poetry (with a fair bit of editing, reformatting,
paraphrasing, and additional text) stolen from the play
'The Designated Mourner' by Wallace Shawn but strictly
adhering to copyright fair use doctrine.



(Pen&ink drawing filled in with graphite and watercolor and (for all I remember) finger-paint and mud and toaster
crumbs and burnt marsh-mellows and toe-nail clippings and a ground-up copy of page 213 of some unknown
edition of War&Peace or was it page 42 of Kesey's Demon Box but it really doesn't matter what media was used
to make the damned thing because I scanned and photo-shopped the fucker and multiplied it by five.)