Manner of Death

June 24^th, 2022 

that is the date that foretells 

the rise in the bodies.  

you unzip the next bag and gaze inside 

black skin stark against the white plastic.  

she is far too young to be here- 

the tag hanging from her toe says she is 25.  

yet, as you snap a picture of her face  

for identification purposes- she looks 

fourteen, a high school photo id.  

you remove the skirt stiff with dried blood  

and it is then you see it- 

the coat hanger between her thighs.  

Manner of Death: Homicide  

a Y incision severs  

the still enlarged abdomen in two.  

the gaping mouth sliced into his 

uterus is silenced with crisscrossing stitches 

made only days before you slice into his lungs 

and discover the clot that severed breathing.  

the pain in his sister’s voice can barely be discerned  

over the wailing of an unwanted infant.  

Manner of Death: Homicide.  

the next is rotted green with untreated infection.  

they were scared their miscarriage 

would be mistaken for murder.  

one contains a bullet in her heart,  

occupying the space that once belonged to two children.  

guess which has more rights- the bullet 

or the person who became its tomb.  

the abdomen of the following body  

is filled with blood 

from an unviable embryo that ruptured its Creator’s fallopian tube-  

she was denied treatment  

by laws that bind and gag doctors as if  

they are Demons conjured with salt and a pentagram.  

Brown. 

    White. 

        Married. 

             Unmarried.  

                 Mother.  

                      Daughter. 

                          Young. 

                              Elderly Gravida.  

each carry white coat hangers that drown the morgue in blood.  

Manner of Death: Homicide.  

it is your duty  

to speak for the victims 

those whose lips are forever silenced,  

painted red with menstrual blood- 

but manner of death is not homicide.  

manner of death is accident.  

manner of death is natural. 

as if it is natural that she only  

gains bodily autonomy through a body bag.  

four men and one woman 

unelected  

unpopular  

sat on thrones in a gilded white castle and 

deemed these deaths acceptable  

In the Name of the Unborn, the Embryo, and the Sack of Cells.  

Manner of Death: Homicide.