A Man Walks Into An Embassy                                                                             

For journalist, Jamal Khashoggi.  1958-2018

by Annie Klier Newcomer


A man walks into an embassy and he never walks out.

Like the migrating pelican seeking nourishment
found dead in Alabama, black electrical tape
wrapped around its beak, rope binding
one wing to its feet, its dark feathers
blending in with the ground cover of stone.

Like black rhinos stalked and poached for horns,
religious beliefs and fun, damaged animals
moaning, tortured before dying while bow hunters 
spend hours tracking their blood trails.
Like a starfish dismembered, waiting for regeneration.

A drone of 15 lures, takes out one lone wolf. What
cowardice in this? What satisfaction in such sport?
Suitcases dripping with coral far more red
then a blood moon. The Haunting has begun. Free Speech
disappears if his words are allowed to fall off the page.


* * * * *

"A Man Walks Into An Embassy" is part of Annie Klier Newcomer's new poetry collection Comets: Relationships that Wander (Finishing Line Press, February 25, 2022).

Annie Klier Newcomer teaches poetry classes at Turning Point, a Center for Hope & Healing in Kansas City, Kansas. She also helps coach chess for After-School Programs in mid-town KC. Annie writes as a way to connect and to add value to her life. Presently she is an editor for Flapper Press Poetry Café and a member of the Key West Cigar Factory Poetry Group.