Dear Foreboding,

by: Robert McDonald

There are those who would love
to watch me die, would love
to pull the lever,
release
the trap door, let my body
fall
and dandle from the noose,

the silliest
dance, do this
only
because of who
I kissed, what I sought
for love and instances
of pleasure,

in a studio
apartment, in the dark.

Sometimes I pass a man
walking
his dog, I see him
most days, I stop
and pet the gargantuan
white dog, I wonder
if he’d speak out

as the soldiers roped
my hands to take me
away. I was the person
who said
good morning,

we smiled, the old dog wagged
his ratty tail,
sparrows
hopped up from the gutters,
disappeared
into the trees

---

Robert McDonald’s poetry and prose have been appearing in journals and magazines for well over 20 years, including, among others, Allium, A Clean, Well-Lighted Place, Columbia Poetry Review, Court Green, Disquieting Muses Quarterly, Emerge Journal, Gertrude, Le Petite Zine, Mudfish, Pank, Sentence, and West Trade Review. With Kathie Bergquist, he is the author of A Field Guide to Gay and Lesbian Chicago. Robert is a longtime resident of Chicago, where he worked at independent bookstores.