Spring Break
by Charles Carson
(Second Place • Poetry)

They split the big fish open with hope of finding
  The child missing from the crowded ocean shore;
The search will resume again tomorrow.

Three long days it has been since the police report
  Was filed, where before they were sure
Now they feel only suffering sorrow.

Down below the Texas border across the river
  From Harlingen, the coyote waits impatiently;
As the suspended helicopters loom.

An endless search for illegal activity, loud horns drown out
  The drone of their engines while the semi – automatic
Raised gently, sweeps them away like dust from a broom.

These streets are filled with unspeakable monsters, whose power
  Lies within their dark shadow souls while the camera’s eye zooms
In on the shovels tossing up dirt from the shallow graves into our faces.

The bones and skulls begin to appear, the guilty must swing from the gallows,
  Though this will not settle our troubles, our fears as children are lost
Without any traces; their numbers are growing year after year.

The cold milky eyes of the big fish now holding a vacant
  Empty stare is left to decay on the empty ocean shore;
The beach will be full again tomorrow.

[ top ]