Angela McClintock

GIVE AND TAKE

The night they shot my friend the cop,
I counseled a suicidal kid
Informing him of options open.

He, too, had a gun cocked
Pointing at his head
His previous cries for help
Unheard.

We negotiated ruthlessly
He with pain
Me with compromise
Finally, he agreed
To try tomorrow.

And as the kid attempted life,
My friend fought death
Tooth and nail,
but lost.


Angela's YouTube reading of "Give and Take"


Angela confesses: "At the time the poem was written, I was a counselor in a runaway shelter working with adolescents. I dealt with all of the childhood abuse and neglect issues and the suicidal ideations that come with suffering. I had a dear friend, a police officer who was killed in the line of duty trying to protect a battered woman the same timeframe I had been working with a suicidal youth. The juxtaposition of the two events haunted me. Thus, the poem."

“I’ve always been a storyteller, to the delight of my siblings and the chagrin of my parents." ANGELA McCLINTOCK, a licensed clinical social worker certified in trauma, spent the last three decades working with children and families in crisis. Writing has always been her creative escape.

Her first published novel, The Boy in the Basement, won first prize in the Bookfest 2024 for psychological thrillers. Grave Justice (book two in the Jennifer Riley series) was released in April 2025.

Angela lives in Birmingham, AL, with her two spoiled corgis, Loki and Odin.