Brittany

15 years ago, Brittany McGlone was killed, rather brutally, down the street from where my parents live in the piney woods of northeast Texas. the murder has remained unsolved all these years; the new sheriff committed to solving the cold case when he took office a couple of years ago.

September 1st they arrested one of the suspects that many believed (including me) had murdered Brittany: https://tinyurl.com/5853jtb5. I know this is only the beginning of another chapter, but wanted to mark this moment.

Brittany's murder hit me fairly profoundly. I wrote a poem within 6 months of her death entitled "Aluminum" that was ultimately included in my book 'Elements'.

I drafted a novel which has been shelved for some time now. but I had been thinking of of it a lot the last few days of August—asking myself if I should try to work on the novel as it is. if I should move it into a cross-genre format or novel in verse. asking myself if it's time to take this book from the shelf.

I can't say how many times I've thought of Hassen Saker's question to me on her porch in roughly 2011 why I thought Brittany's murder stuck in my craw, why I needed to write about it.

but how strange the timing of this arrest was relative to her story surfacing again.

honoring Brittany for the life she lived for 19 years but also marking here the life, and all its possibility, stolen from her and those who loved her.