Wilda Morris

VANDALS

What if the police had found out
we were the children
who trashed the old car,
luxuriating in sounds
of glass shattering,
rocks bouncing off metal?

Would they have understood
we thought it was junk,
abandoned in the field?

Would the detective have looked
at us and thought we looked
like good kids, sent us home
with a warning? Or would he
have filed charges, taken us to court?

Would the judge have sent us
to Juvenile Hall for several months
or years? Would we have come out
hardened, hopeless?

Where would we be now?


Sarah Stockton reads "Vandals":



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Wilda confesses: "For many years, I carried a sense of guilt for having participating in an act of vandalism and lying about it. We really thought the vehicle we trashed had been abandoned. I first wrote about it in my book, Stop the Violence. I seriously ponder the question the poem raises."

WILDA MORRIS's official rap sheet shows one traffic violation. She takes the Fifth Amendment regarding other possible infractions of the law. Her book, Stop the Violence: Educating Ourselves to Protect Our Youth, was published by Judson Press. Her poetry appears in numerous print and online venues, including Frogpond, About Place Journal, After Hours, and The Avocet. Wilda Morris’s Poetry Challenge at http://wildamorris.blogspot.com provides a monthly poetry contest for other poets.

30 Days of The 5-2 (2014)

In 1996, the Academy of American Poets established National Poetry Month, April. In that spirit, I invite you to spread the word about The 5-2 on our third annual April blog tour.

30 Days of The 5-2 is driven not by guest posts to your blogs, but by your own posts about poetry. Most participants pick a favorite 5-2 poem and blog about it on their scheduled dates, but you can be as creative with your post as you like. For example:

• Interview a 5-2 contributor
• Discuss a favorite poem not from The 5-2
• Post your own poetry or fiction in response to a 5-2 poem
• 5-2 contributors, discuss your poems in greater detail

If you don't have your own blog but would like to participate, email your entry to G_SO at YAHOO dot COM, and I'll post it at The 5-2 itself. I'm fine scheduling multiple tour stops on the same day or about the same poem.

I'm glad to add entries even after April 1. To book a date, email G_SO at YAHOO dot COM or tweet @PoemsOnCrime, and I'll add it below.

Participants are welcome to download the tour badge image above and add it to their posts or follow these instructions to copy-and-paste the image HTML code.

Not up to a blog post? Mention the tour on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, etc.

All April revenue from 5-2 and Lineup books and merchandise is donated to the nonprofit Academy of American Poets, supporting poets at all stages of their careers and fostering the appreciation of contemporary poetry.


04-01-14 - Tuesday - B.V. Lawson at In Reference to Murder
04-01-14 - Tuesday - Wilda Morris's Poetry Challenge
04-02-14 - Wednesday - Kristopher Zgorski at BOLO Books
04-03-14 - Thursday - Bill Cameron at Thinking With My Skin
04-04-14 - Friday - Deborah Lacy at Mystery Playground
04-05-14 - Saturday - Toby Speed
04-06-14 - Sunday - Steven Torres at The Crime Time Cafe
04-07-14 - Monday - 5-2 Poem of the Week: "The Stainless Steel Wallet" by Amy Holman
04-08-14 - Tuesday - Thomas Pluck
04-09-14 - Wednesday - Criminal Element
04-10-14 - Thursday - Kristen Chapman Gibbons at Big Blue Dot, Y'all
04-11-14 - Friday - S.A. Solomon
04-12-14 - Saturday - Ray Daniel
04-13-14 - Sunday - Aja Beech at Process Press
04-14-14 - Monday - 5-2 Poem of the Week: "Fear As Loud As a Mugging" by Linda Lerner
04-14-14 - Monday - Charles Rammelkamp reviews "Stealing Poetry" by Elisa Albo
04-15-14 - Tuesday - John DuMond at Nobody Move!
04-16-14 - Wednesday - Kathleen A. Ryan at Women of Mystery
04-17-14 - Thursday - The 5-2's Best Contributed Videos
04-18-14 - Friday - Michael A. Arnzen at gorelets.com
04-19-14 - Saturday - Bill Crider's Pop Culture Magazine
04-20-14 - Sunday - Jane Hammons
04-21-14 - Monday - 5-2 Poem of the Week: "Marine Barracks First Aid" by David S. Pointer
04-22-14 - Tuesday - Sarah Stockton
04-23-14 - Wednesday - Matt Forrest Esenwine at Radio, Rhythm, and Rhyme
04-24-14 - Thursday - Clare Toohey at Women of Mystery
04-25-14 - Friday - "Brick City" by Ian Khadan
04-26-14 - Saturday - Announcing Guest Editor Annabelle Edwards
04-27-14 - Sunday - Patti Abbott
04-28-14 - Monday - 5-2 Poem of the Week: "Trickster Time" by Linda Rodriguez
04-29-14 - Tuesday - Kathleen A. Ryan at From Cop to Mom...
04-30-14 - Wednesday - Kevin Thornton at The Old Fort

Bleed Me a River: A Domestic Violence Anthology

Edited by Lineup contributor David S. Pointer, Bleed Me a River is a 128-page trade paperback featuring work by Antler, Gary Beck, Kimberly L. Becker, John D. Berry, Jolee Blackbear, Jennifer Hollie Bowles, Shirley Brazzo, Patricia Carragon, Alan Catlin, Dave Church, Cassandra Dallet, Sarah Daugherty, Doug Draime, Charles Firmage, Molly Gaudry, Cynthia M. Gregg, S.A. Griffin, Kenneth P. Gurney, Jessica Harman, Pamela Hirst, Stephanie Hiteshew, Karla Huston, Evie Ivy, Justin Jackley, Sharmagne Leland-St. John, Elleraine Lockie, Linda Parsons Marion, Catfish McDaris, Mike Meraz, Todd Moore, Wilda Morris, David Pointer, Rhonda C. Poynter, Charles Ries, Kimberly Roppollo, Cindy Rosmus, Kristen Rueden, Jennifer Rybolt, Georgia Santa-Maria, Rebecca Schumeda, Gerald So, Joe Speer, Lela Norcross Wakely, Klyd Watkins, Kelly Jean White, J.T. Whitehead, Elaine Whitman, and Neal Whitman.

The book sells for $10 + s & h with all proceeds benefiting domestic violence shelters.

The Five-Two Vol. 3 Available for Amazon Kindle

Collects our third year of fifty-two poems. Featuring Austin Alexis, F.J. Bergmann, Tom Brzezina, Stevie Cenko, Ann Clark, Louie Clay, Randall Compton, Robert Cooperman, Dalton Day, Kristina England, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Peter M. Gordon, Amy Holman, Paul Hostovsky, Scott T. Hutchison, Rosemarie Keenan, Elizabeth Lash, Linda Lerner, Lauren McBride, Catfish McDaris, Rachel Lynn McGuire, Tim McLafferty, Wilda Morris, Sarah Nichols, Steve Peacock, Joseph S. Pete, David S. Pointer, Charles Rammelkamp, William G. Rector, Linda Rodriguez, Mehnaz Sahibzada, Seamus Scanlon, Nancy Scott, Kathleen Shaw, Toby Speed, Allen Stein, Sasha Swarup-Deuser, Terry Trowbridge, Ken Tufford, H.B. Ussach, Catherine Wald, Tiffany Washington, Kayla Wheeler, Angel Zapata.


Ebook Amazon Kindle $3.99 US | Also available via Amazon's international sites

Contributors, contact me for your complimentary copy. Thanks again for your great work.