& the state of California executes
a man who wrote children’s books
twenty four years on death row
during the twelve minutes
it took to find a vein in his
left arm
he joked with them
the warden of San Quentin
said everything depends on the veins
& how accessible they are
& also it was a high-pressure
assignment for the nurse
getting the needle in before so many people
the man was strapped into a dentist’s chair
in a room that was painted sea-green
green is a relaxing colour
a photograph
shows a man with a white beard & black
hair & wire-frame glasses
a blue prison shirt
contrasts with his palely gleaming mahogany skin
governor & ex-actor Arnold Schwarzenegger
the man who signed his death warrant
starred in Kindergarten Cop & Terminator
a post on a website about Collateral Damage said
it was not as bad as Paris Texas
one out of one people found the post useful
the mother of one of the victims said
that his death would finally bring justice
to her stepson
on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s site he said
we are going to make this state
the greatest state
in the greatest country in the world
thank you all very much for
your support & hard work
he did not wear a tie in the photograph
the man he executed was wearing a prison-issue shirt
his editor attended
the protest against his death
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November 6, 2012 10:25 am
Execution after twenty four years in prison!
November 6, 2012 10:27 pm
Well, Des, I suppose he was lucky he didn’t get life! (I know, a sick joke). But the whole system is incredible – not just the brutal fact that the state executes people but the circumstances and ritual of the thing. And the language. And the fact that they can get doctors and nurses to carry it out. And so on and so on.