A new poem of mine “Lavender Doe” was published in the March issue of Passengers Journal (online) and beautifully read by Hayley Davis. I was surprised they added the voice. Love it! I hope you do, too.
Click on the image below to go to the page and hear the poem read. (Text of it is below.)
Enjoy.
Shutta
https://www.passengersjournal.com/volume-2-issue-3-poetry/#crum
Lavender Doe
—cold case closed, Kilgore, TX
Twelve years ago
the townsfolk gave her
what they could—
a sweet name
and a gravestone.
No simple Jane Doe.
Lavender Doe,
for the very little that remained—
a bit of lavender shirt,
perfect teeth and $40 in her jeans.
I like to think that her grave
lies far from oil derricks.
That it overlooks a river
or a pasture full of cows.
That she rests in the rustling music
from cottonwood trees.
I like to think that some in town
bring flowers once a year.
And that those perfect teeth
want to smile.
I like to think that someone misses her.
Assaulted, murdered, partially burned—
twelve years she lay unclaimed
until he struck again.
At last, her name returned: Dana.
Dana Lynn Dodd, age 21.
Lavender shirt. Perfect teeth.
A sister who misses her.
And the $40?
“Because,” her killer said,
“she earned it.”