In the Lion's Cage
a poem by David Starkey
Chased by an angry horse, circus hand Charlie Chaplin
takes refuge, accidentally, in a lion’s cage.
An angry mob descends on the Marion city jail.
The door shuts behind him.
Armed with sledgehammers, they overwhelm the single deputy,
who disappears into the night.
Fortunately, the lion is asleep.
The mob wants Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, two blackmen accused of killing a white man and raping his girlfriend. . . .
—Read the rest of the poem
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