FEED ME WICKED THINGS by Lee Clark Zumpe

There is tremendous power in words, and few writers can draw upon that power better than Lee Clark Zumpe. In “Feed Me Wicked Things” he summons topics ranging from the poignant horror of Srebrenica in the 1990s to the lynching trees of the 1890s, from the futility of assassination to the thoughts of a lonely passing. Evocative and provocative, Zumpe once read cannot be forgotten.

The nights stretch like a mortician’s arms,
measuring tape eager to size me,
     but I will resist his efforts
     at compulsory relocation;
God willing, the reaper will have to wait.