The subcommittee
will hear testimony of
bubonic guinea pigs
international bodies
haphazard exterminat –
ion
The cloud would descend upon a village or upon people
The cloud seemed to be made up of small particles
blood-tinged rain
I would compare it
to offering somebody a cigarette
such as the one I now am smoking
and giving them the finger
of suspicion
the leaf samples were indeed leaf samples
the water samples were indeed water samples
First village: pain
Second village: pain
Third village: children
Fourth village: children
these casualties and deaths of babies and whatnot
I see the yellow light, Mr. Chairman. Does that mean I must stop?
May I have a few minutes to get the slide machine organized?
a yellow water flowed from their bodies
of evidence
the slide machine does not appear to be working
scales fall
from a blue-black cloud
and yet the public yawns
The blue-black cloud is filled with flame
[a slide presentation was shown] about bleeding
I have seen skeletons carrying skeletons
[Whereupon, at 4:30, the subcommittee adjourned]
Kristin Fitzsimmons is the author of the chapbook all these empty bone bowls (Dancing Girl Press, 2013) and has most recently been published in Gloom Cupboard, Sugared Water, and Nice Cage. “The subcommittee” is an erasure poem created from the U.S. congressional hearing on “Yellow Rain” from 1981.
