1 Poem by Casey Killingsworth

 Multiple choice

Sometimes now I cry more
over the news, even knowing we
all have only a certain number
of tears, but other times I can’t
bring myself to give one shit when
some hurricane lashes itself
against us or more people go missing
in this week’s war, so I plan
to study to be a scientist so
I can reduce the news to one
big number because nobody
gets emotional over numbers,
or maybe a professor so I can
discuss the news in a lecture
and use it in a pop quiz
where the answer, “D. suffering,”
is always the right answer.


Bionote

Casey Killingsworth has work in The American Journal of Poetry, Kimera, Spindrift, Rain, Slightly West, Timberline Review, COG, Common Ground Review, Typehouse,  Bangalore Review, Two Thirds North, and other journals. His book of poems, A Handbook for Water, was published by Cranberry Press in 1995. As well he has a book on the poetry of Langston Hughes, The Black and Blue Collar Blues (VDM, 2008). He has a Master’s degree from Reed College.