Vox Populi
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José A. Alcántara: Two Extras
One, a rich guy who liked to surf.
The other, a rich guy who liked to say No.
One, a crazed killer.
The other, a captain of industry.
We condemn one
lionize the other.
We prefer our violence subtle
managed, predictable.
Not for us the hunter and his rifle
but the factory farm, the feedlot, the killing floor.
Not for us the suicide bomber
but the Commander in Chief.
Kill someone, you go to jail.
Kill thousands, you go to Park Avenue, Crawford Texas, Tel Aviv.
We’re starring in our own morality play
that we write as we go along.
Play your part, and the run continues.
Break character, and the whole thing falls apart.
~~~~
José A. Alcántara is the author of The Bitten World: Poems (Tebot Bach, 2022). His poetry and prose have appeared in The American Poetry Review, American Life in Poetry, Harvard Review, Ploughshares, Poetry Northwest, Rattle, & The Slowdown. He lives in western Colorado and wherever he happens to pitch his tent.
Copyright 2025 José A. Alcántara
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Just wow. ❤️
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💪😑🙌
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Thank you, José, for this insightful and honest poem — one couplet more brutal than the next.
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I remember making this argument in college during anti-Vietnam war days. Way too much to say about that debate, and how fear as motivation eventually shattered the divide between serial killers locally, and the “serial” killers at a distance. When the returning body bags started meeting families, public opinion turned.
The poem works rhetorically, structurally, and tonally. It’s a fine piece of work, with which to make its essential point.
One tiny question: is there a particular rich surfer killer, or is this a symbolic metaphor?
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Luigi Mangione
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Kill thousands…
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Break character indeed, although it’s lost on most. Better to lionize trees over men in my book. By far.
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In my book as well, Matt.
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What a magnificent poem and so full of meaning. Wonderful, wonderful.
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Yes, I love Jose’s work.
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