chess game again
 We all watched the case on the news together, the case where a man on a subway train opened fire on passengers in the car. nine people dead, i think. they caught the man, they had their trial, and by right he could have a lawyer appointed to him. but no, he wanted to act as his own attorney.
so every day he would come into the courtroom in his suit, looking professional, and he would question each of the witnesses, the people that survived his shooting spree and now had to look him in the eye and answer his questions.
“so what happened then?” he would ask, and a woman would answer ,”i saw you push the woman to the ground, put your knee to her back and shoot her in the back of the head.”
“can you point out the man that did this?” he would ask, and a man would respond, “it was you.”
some of the witnesses broke down under the emotional strain. and finally he had no further questions and the judge dismissed the jury to arrive at a verdict. they found him guilty, and when the judge asked the defendant if he had any last words for the jury, he kept stressing his innocence, and never apologized. the judge told him he was disgusted. he saw no remorse in the killer’s eyes.
and of all the violence we see in the media, all the court trials that are fed to us through our television sets, our boxes of american dreams, I don’t think any of us were prepared for this. how did those people feel, when faced with the man that has brought them so much pain, how did they feel when they had to quietly sit there and answer his questions, when he didn’t even say he was sorry? most of them sat there trying to keep their composure when faced with a man who lost all control. this twisted tale. they were a pawn in his chess game again.
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Chicago Poet Janet Kuypers
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