HCE received a lot of high-quality submissions for The Brutal Issue – sadly, too many to fit inside the magazine! So we offered some of our shortlisted contributors the chance to be published on our website.
Keep an eye on our social media for more great writing like this, in the run up to the release of The Brutal Issue…
Occurrence
Drew Lewis
The window glass lays shattered
and glistening under the street light.
If I move the door, more rains down
like ice in a cold storm.
Yes sir, Mr. Miller,
the police will be here soon, thank you.
Good neighbour, Mr. Miller is.
Must have also been awake
when he heard my car window break.
It’s a shame some have the nerve,
to steal and take from an owner
who is inside just a few feet away.
Here they come.
I’ll fill out their report,
clean up some,
and get some sleep before work.
Those lights sure are bright,
like the midday sun in the dark of night.
What’s that, officer?
Of course I won’t run.
Place what on the ground?
It’s a phone, sir; I do not own a gun.
I can’t see, officer. I can’t breathe.
How did I get on the ground?
The glass is in my hands, what’s happening?
That hurts, sir, please I beg you, I’m pleading –
Call an ambulance, I’m bleeding.
Sir, what’s happening? Mr. Miller!
Sir, please stop…
Help.
DREW LEWIS is a student at Georgia Gwinnett College in Lawrenceville, Ga. He is majoring in English with a concentration in writing and rhetoric. His poetry covers numerous topics including domestic violence, police brutality, divorce, and death to name some. Lewis writes poetry as a means to explore certain curiosities, specifically in the nature and circumstances of people.
