One Month Aniversary of Memorial Service

No society that feeds its children on tales of successful violence can expect them not to believe that violence in the end is rewarded.
-Margaret Mead, anthropologist (1901-1978)

At the scene of an accident
we can’t help but crane our necks

8/22/2005
One Month Aniversary of Memorial Service




we are here again
a month ago to the day 7/22/2005
a memorial was held in Berkeley California
for a murder victim Meleia Willis-Starbuck
some say the victim of an accidental bullet




and we hear it all again
the sound of soft sobbing



drifts across the gym
the banners line the walls
victories that date back
before I went here
in the tumultuous sixties



yellow and red
the yellow jackets



a cartoon figure
like David
small but able



Outside of Berkeley's only high school
carved in bas-relief
"you shall know the truth
the truth shall make you free"



inside speaker after speaker
smiles then looks to heaven
choking on a salty tear
so senseless
evil lurks everywhere
its misshapen head
vaulting above the ordinary
I look toward a spot in the
ceiling and a light throwing a pattern
tilting my head back
I press the shutter
hoping no one notices a tear
escape and flow down my chin



One month later the prime suspect remains at large. The family continues to urge him to turn himself in to prevent further needless violence

S T O P
T H E
V I O L E N C E

BIRD

Poem Copyright
© 2005 Frederick D. Perry, All Rights Reserved

More Pictures at the memorial set: