Poem titled "A Crime Revisited"

Object number1989.125.0001

Date1988

ClassificationsDocuments

Author Mark Brookshire

ObjectPoem

Credit LineMark Brookshire Collection/The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza

MediumPaper

DimensionsOverall: 11 x 8 1/2 in. (27.9 x 21.6 cm)

Terms

Collections

DescriptionThis 1988 poem is titled "A Crime Revisited" by Mark Brookshire. It is about Dallas' response to the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and how Dallas responded and was percieved for decades afterwards. The poem reads: "He came to this city amid much apprehension and applause, But with time Dallas had come to respect its new champion to the cause. To show this new respect they appeared that day in mass, To welcome the new frontier and its leader, their representative of every religion, color and class. Yet on this very day the menace to civilized man, the ugly assassin lay in wait, Soon to dash the hopes of millions in a fickle instant of hate. With the plottings of man and the ensuing violence, Dallas was quickly shamed into an embarassed silence. Helped along by the media and its petulant persecution, We were forced to endure the guilty verdict by some vague prosecution. For more than two decades Dallas has sought forgiveness, never pity. Is that too much to ask for a people and their city? The time has come for this metropolis to climb up from its painful descent, And forgive itself as an unfortuante, yet random setting for such a tragic event. The human frailties exposed that dreadful November, Lest we'll forget we will always remember. As for the future our faith in our principles we must fully entrust, For the acts of a savage few will never indict the good nor punish the just. - Mark Brookshire"

Curatorial Commentary

Dallas writer and poet Mark Brookshire was five years old at the time of the assassination. He recorded an oral history with the Museum on January 22, 2021.

One of the earliest donations to the newly-opened Sixth Floor exhibit, this typed copy of Mark's 1988 poem was displayed on the seventh floor as part of an installation exploring personal responses to the assassination, in support of the traveling exhibition, True Colors, which was open at The Sixth Floor Museum from February to June 2005. -- Stephen Fagin, Curator