Story in a poem: "Murder, Mayhem and Me"

More about a prize-winning crown sonnet

I was having a “discussion” with my husband New Year’s Eve (what better time?) when the email came in that this had happened. My crown sonnet, “Murder, Mayhem and Me”, had won the 2023 Nebraska Poetry Society Open Contest. Needless to say, it turned the night around.

Here’s some further “reading” for those who wish to learn more about the events described in the poem, and why it took the form of a crown sonnet.

The poem, now published on The Poet Rabble, is a “crown sonnet”, seven linked sonnets, that explore fear, guns, culture and to some aspects of Nebraska history over nearly 65 years. One thread compares those who commit gun violence to the cult of Charles Manson. This connection came to me in reading Emma Cline’s amazing novel, The Girls, which tells the story of a young woman caught up in a Manson-like cult in the late 1960’s.

The Manson connection continued with my memories of t, Vince Bugliosi, who sent Manson to prison, and whom I met when he toured his fascinating book, Helter Skelter. I helped host major speakers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and Bugliosi was one of my peak experiences. (Gene Roddenberry being another one.) His determination, dedication and commitment as he described going months without seeing his family in the course of the Manson trial still impress me.

Another event I wanted to explore was the 2007 shootings in Omaha’s Westroads Mall. Eerily, it was just a few days after a newspaper story commemorated the infamous Charles Starkweather/Caril Ann Fugate murder spree from the 1950’s, which inspired among many other things, Terrence Malick’s movie Badlands, starring Sissy Spacek and Martin Sheen. As the poem states, Starkweather was one of the very first random serial killers to terrorize a region, much like Manson and his followers did barely ten years later in California. He also preceded Manson in acting out during his trial, further enflaming the public.

Finally, the Harry Strunk Lake murders. In the early 70’s, when the Nebraska interstate was ripping with VW vans and their hippies, came the notorious murders of farmer Edwin and Wilma Hoyt, whose body parts surfaced piece by piece in the reservoir my family frequented for camping and fishing. For more on these murders, follow a fascinating podcast series brought to my attention by McCook native Dale Dueland last spring during my book tour. Episodes 16-20 of John Murphy’s podcast Across the Diner Verse draw upon law enforcement records, confessions, and the living memory of some of the witnesses to the investigation and trial. Murphy is also a McCook native.

So, with all this material, what could one do? I wrote a few draft essays. They veered too far into my experience of political awakening in the face of a rising conservative tide in those pre-Reagan years, which I discuss soon in a SpoFest “In Other Words” podcast. Keep an eye out for that one!

Then I took a Hudson Valley Writers Center craft class on the sonnet, taught by poet Jason Schneiderman. I’d first encountered Jason through his inspiring article about the sonnet in The American Poetry Review a few years ago. Since then, I had gotten to know him through the KGB Monday Night poetry series he co-curated. In the workshop, Jason showed us how to lay the foundation for a crown sonnet. As we followed his lead and built the links between first and last lines to each sonnet, this material started falling into place. This would be the form I’d try next. Once I put it together, it felt like the way to go.

My deep appreciation to The Nebraska Poetry Society for this recognition. One of my many discoveries during my book tour of Nebraska last spring is the thriving literary culture of Nebraska, driven by strong support organizations like this one. Thank you.