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poetry Death Warrant

From Alexis Rhone Fancher"s State of Grace (2015), an elegy to her son Joshua, we find compassion mixed with irony, grief with dark humor, as the poet's life must go in an absurd world.

DEATH WARRANT
By Alexis Rhone Fancher

When my son’s ticket was about
to go to warrant, I went to the
courthouse and explained to the judge
that he was in the hospital, dying.
Someone in the courtroom gasped.
Someone grabbed my hand.

Josh lusted over a muscle car, a
Dodge Charger with a Hemi-powered,
5.7L V8 under the hood.
He wanted me to buy it. I wanted to
lease it. He said that meant I
knew he was going to die.

The judge looked over the warrant.
“He’s in the hospital, you say?"
“Yes, your honor. Terminal cancer.”
“Good,” she said. She handed the
paperwork back to the bailiff.
“Then he won’t be driving
without a license,
out there endangering others.”

Alexis Rhone Fancher newest book is State of Grace: The Joshua Elegies, (October, 2015, KYSO Flash Press). Her poems have been published in over twenty American and international anthologies. Her photos have been published worldwide. Since 2013 Alexis has been nominated for three Pushcart Prizes and four Best of The Net awards. She is photography editor of Fine Linen, and poetry editor of Cultural Weekly, where she also publishes The Poet’s Eye, a monthly photo essay about her ongoing love affair with Los Angeles.
http://femmesfollesnebraska.tumblr.com/post/131483881177/alexis-fancher…

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