WOMANSLAUGHTER by Pat Parker

What was his crime? / He only killed his wife.

But a divorce I say. / Not final, they say;

Her things were his / including her life.”

Convicted not of murder / but of “womanslaughter” because

“Men cannot kill their wives. / They passion them to death.”

For this murder in Texas, he served one year in a work-release program; three years after this murder in Texas, Parker vows

“I will come to my sisters / not dutiful, / I will come strong.

Womenslaughter, reprinted by permission, Pat Parker 1978.

Category: Healing,