Murderer Escapes Custody in Philadelphia by Ace Boggess

Sorry, City, for your night of terrors,
locked vaults of basement panic rooms.
Know this: I’m not on your side,
never your side. I root for villains
in our American tragedy.
The worst men I’d name friend
were I still in, a con in uniform.
Of course, I hope he harms no one,
but hold a ticket to watch the film
about his long black train.
A vulgar race toward any border
won’t end with roses, or rather, will.
There’s no such thing as a clean getaway.
Hellhounds are hammering their paws,
humming, lusty to devour his toes.
Better that than walled off in the pen
where a criminal dies once more each day,
or makes it out alive to die again.

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Ace Boggess is author of six books of poetry, most recently Escape Envy. His writing has appeared in Indiana Review, Michigan Quarterly Review, Notre Dame Review, Harvard Review, and other journals. An ex-con, he lives in Charleston, West Virginia, where he writes and tries to stay out of trouble. His seventh collection, Tell Us How to Live, is forthcoming in 2024 from Fernwood Press.