- Jonestown
I kept wondering if it was an accident if they didn’t know what the purple held
I kept wondering if the parents didn’t know what the children were drinking
I kept wondering why their tongues didn’t stop the poison
I kept wondering why the guy in the glasses made up a god that hated children
I kept wondering about the rows the neatly stacked shirts and jeans limbs and hair sometimes children beneath
I kept wondering how long they lay awake how long until they trickled away [End Page 9]
I kept wondering who the mixers who the servers who the stirrers
I kept wondering about the path how many steps how long the lines how many children how many thought they were waiting for something good at the end
Ikeptwonderinghowthebodies arrangedthemselvesdid thechildrenliedown firsttobecoveredor didtheyslip orweretheypulled
under I if kept you wondering only if drank you half would the still cup die
I k e p t w o n d e r i n g w h a t t h e d u s t w o u l d h o l d
I kept wondering if God was watching I kept wondering was it accident it was wondering what was I I was it
I kept it [End Page 10]
Chris Haven teaches writing at Grand Valley State University in Michigan, where he edits Wake: Great Lakes Thought and Culture. “Jonestown” is part of a series of poems on the 1970s. Other poems in this series have appeared or are forthcoming in Fugue, Los Angeles Review, Northville Review, Linebreak, and Sugar House Review.