Mockingbird

On the parlour steps in Virginia
a coalition forms
public outcry
insincere rage
guilt of doing nothing.

Ghosts of the girls
haunt the gravedigger
Mary, seven
Shelby Lynne, three.

He sees them clearly
laughing out loud
somersaulting
across California
fields.

Magnetic skinny love
Willie Rathbone
could not resist
took them swimming,
pools of blood
stain porous tile,
forever tainting memories.

Mockingbird
sings, out of time,
broken songs
in shame.