Donald Krieger
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Don is a biomedical researcher living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His poetry has appeared or is forthcoming online in Tuck Magazine, Uppagus, VerseWrights, and These Fragile Lilacs, and in print in Hanging Loose (1972), Neurology (September 12, 2017), and The Taj Mahal Review (December, 2016).
Gladiator
You shun our anthem,
speak your mind as a grown man
From beneath the yoke born by so many,
you call out, “no more.”
Tall, looking down field,
great arms hurtling at your back,
it's no longer just a game or a job.
To the fans you're either ingrate or hero
When they scream now, it's for real
On the field on every play, they come to kill.
This poem originally appeared online in Tuck Magazine.
You shun our anthem,
speak your mind as a grown man
From beneath the yoke born by so many,
you call out, “no more.”
Tall, looking down field,
great arms hurtling at your back,
it's no longer just a game or a job.
To the fans you're either ingrate or hero
When they scream now, it's for real
On the field on every play, they come to kill.
This poem originally appeared online in Tuck Magazine.
Bob and Autumn
Autumn's talent brought them to Pittsburgh
She ran the seizure unit at Magee
It was Bob's idea that we might work together.
She died just after the Boston bombing.
Bob's son had been there; he was on crutches at the reception
A line of us greeted Bob
When he saw me he burst into tears.
Bob was arrested two months later.
Autumn was killed with cyanide.
My wife is gone too,
her twenty thousand per day hospital care
ended with morphine on my consent.
Bob got life without parole
I'm in love again.
I know there's a difference between us
I have not found what it is.
This poem originally appeared online in VerseWrights
Autumn's talent brought them to Pittsburgh
She ran the seizure unit at Magee
It was Bob's idea that we might work together.
She died just after the Boston bombing.
Bob's son had been there; he was on crutches at the reception
A line of us greeted Bob
When he saw me he burst into tears.
Bob was arrested two months later.
Autumn was killed with cyanide.
My wife is gone too,
her twenty thousand per day hospital care
ended with morphine on my consent.
Bob got life without parole
I'm in love again.
I know there's a difference between us
I have not found what it is.
This poem originally appeared online in VerseWrights
Our Dead are Different from Yours
30 years ago construction halted on I-279. Down
from Penn Brewery and North Catholic bones were found
where Voegtley Church had stood. 727 dead
were sifted from the earth and catalogued while backhoes,
pavers, politicians, and lawyers stood aside.
The Voegtley remains were separated for burial and laid with a single marker.
Present were scientists, reporters, and Dorothy Davies,
baptized at Voegtley Church 80 years before. No living relative
was ever found but the Voegtley dead were on protected
ground and respected.
Last fall the Standing Rock Sioux found sacred ground
on the Dakota Access pipeline path. Their dead now lay
pulverized beneath an easement and 30 inch pipe cradled in cement.
This poem first appeared in Tuck Magazine and has since been revised.
30 years ago construction halted on I-279. Down
from Penn Brewery and North Catholic bones were found
where Voegtley Church had stood. 727 dead
were sifted from the earth and catalogued while backhoes,
pavers, politicians, and lawyers stood aside.
The Voegtley remains were separated for burial and laid with a single marker.
Present were scientists, reporters, and Dorothy Davies,
baptized at Voegtley Church 80 years before. No living relative
was ever found but the Voegtley dead were on protected
ground and respected.
Last fall the Standing Rock Sioux found sacred ground
on the Dakota Access pipeline path. Their dead now lay
pulverized beneath an easement and 30 inch pipe cradled in cement.
This poem first appeared in Tuck Magazine and has since been revised.