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a sentence

By Kevin Simmonds

needs
at least one subject
and one verb
(though sometimes the subject
is unnamed   it's understood

nevertheless
objects must be named)

         Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant III.

subject: Johannes Mehserle
verb: shot
object: Oscar Grant III

a sentence becomes sophisticated
when it includes complexity and detail

           Johannes Mehserle shot Oscar Grant III who was restrained faced down
           on the ground surrounded by three police officers.

subject: Johannes Mehserle
verb: shot
object: Oscar Grant III

           A white police officer shot a black man faced down on the ground
           and will spend less than two years in jail for his criminal conviction.

what is the object
of that sentence?

object? anyone?
Added: Monday, July 7, 2014  /  Used with permission.

Kevin Simmonds is a poet originally from New Orleans. His books include the poetry collections Bend to it (Salmon Poetry, 2014) and Mad for Meat (Salmon Poetry, 2011), the edited works Collective Brightness: LGBTIQ Poets on Faith, Religion & Spirituality (Sibling Rivalry Press, 2011) and Ota Benga under My Mother's Roof (University of South Carolina Press, 2012), and the chapbooks less than infinity: a san francisco psalter (Galvez & Allen, 2018) and The Noh of Dorian Corey (Galvez & Allen, 2017). He lives in San Francisco.

Other poems by this author

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