Terry Dawley

SPENT CASINGS

Spent casings scattered
on a summer-night street

like dead brass bees
emptied of their stingers.

The spent body nearby,
emptied of its soul.


Gerald So reads "Spent Casings"



Subscribe to Channel 52 for first view of new videos.


Terry confesses:"As a police officer, I worked the high-crime hours of 8 PM to 4 AM, and on many summer nights observed spent casings scattered on a city street with a dead victim lying nearby. The simile of dead brass bees having spent their stingers struck me."

TERRY DAWLEY is a retired police officer from Erie, Pennsylvania. His work has appeared in Pithead Chapel, The Cleveland Review, Mused BellaOline Literary Journal, Soft Cartel, and Law Enforcement Today. He is an award winner of the Writer's Digest 80th Annual Writing Competition and a six-time award winner of the Pennwriters Annual Writing Contest.