PIED BILLED GREBE, PENNSYLVANIA
By: Jonathan Andrew Pérez, Esq
Prigg v. Pennsylvania: a 1842 Supreme Court case in which a man, Prigg, was convicted with kidnapping after capturing a slave in Pennsylvania, the Federal precedent, which found Prigg guilty set in motion the legal idea that interfering with the Fugitive Slave Act would be met with criminal charges.
After, Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850 which nullified abolitionist efforts to help emancipate runaway men
resurrection of deep river run deep rope
evening white tombstones, the search warrant scope
character trait, I, carbon, pale faced slope--
who returned to Margaret Morgan to Maryland,
I, oak wagon collapsed. Exigent behind the biased end,
pond road milky Tionesta, seen from a window, flee, flee, talk, talk, silence!
Grebe faintest whisper, tawny lilies arrest
mellow lanterns in dusk, run; the soul grows a little test,
spiritual, extradition from an unknown space, restless
things no holy things delivered, unconsented to, but found Jesus.
Shadrach Minkins, I marched out from Federal Prison.
Jonathan Andrew Pérez, Esq. has published poetry online and in print in Prelude, River Heron Review, The Write Launch, Meniscus Journal, Rigorous Literary Journal, The Florida Review’s Latinx publication, Feminist Latinx Publication, Piltdown Press Review, the Raw Art Review, Junto Magazine, Watermelanin, Cold Mountain Review’s Justice Issue, Yes, Adelaide Literary Magazine, Mud Season Review, Meat for Tea: The Valley Review, The Esthetic Apostle, The Piltdown Review, The Tulane Review, Barnhouse, The Tiny Journal, The Westchester Review, Metafore, Silver Needle Press, and was featured in Crack the Spine's Anthology of the Year for 2018. He has poems forthcoming in Projector Magazine, Cape Cod Poetry Review, The Chicago Quarterly Review, The Worcester Review, Abstract: Contemporary Expressions. Jonathan was selected by The Virginia Quarterly Review 2018 for a workshop with Jericho Brown and Cave Canem in 2018 and 2019 for workshops. He is a 2019 Pushcart Prize in Poetry Nominee. He has a day job as a prosecutor. He has a popular Instagram-poet handle: hillicon_justice.