By Gary Bloom

The Sheriff in this small southern town
Appears regularly on TV
After each domestic disturbance,
Meth arrest, or murder
Always sitting behind his cavernous desk
With Jesus looking down from behind -
The popular portrait of a benevolent Christ
With long flowing brown hair.
The Sheriff’s hair is cropped short
And he wears the medals of a general
And when he speaks of the plagues
That have befallen this small southern town
You want to believe there will be
Forgiveness and redemption
But you know there will only be
An eye for an eye
A tooth for a tooth.

Gary Bloom was born in Minneapolis and attended what is now Minnesota State University- Mankato. He lived in New Orleans for many years and now lives in Mississippi. He has worked a wide variety of jobs, from teaching assistant in a psychiatric hospital to computer programmer. His articles, photography, and poetry have been published in newspapers, magazines, and websites, including Literary Hatchet, Liquid Imagination, Milwaukee Magazine and Black Diaspora.