In “Lethal Theater” by Susannah Nevison I read the poem titled Witness the thing about “Lethal Theater” is there are 4 poems titled witness. The poem I read talks about the voice having to euthanize there dog 2 years ago. I believe there is a deeper meaning to this poem than just having to euthanize there dog, since Nevison is trying to convey throughout this book the idea of “the ritual of violence that underpaid the American prison system, both domestically and abroad.” From the context of this section, this one in particular really cueing in on lethal injection, that this is a police officer trying to reason with him self that the best way to kill someone or something is through a lethal injection. The tone of this poem seems nonchalant but also has a darker side because of that nonchalant attitude. Nevison says,
“And you don’t want to do that.”
in context that you don’t want to kill your dog, but the voice sounds as if they don’t necessarily care. For example when your mom sees you in the kitchen and watches you almost take a cookie out of the cookie jar and she says “you don’t want to do that.” It’s not a caring enough statement to show that the voice really cares about the dog dying. There is no source of sadness until the end and it reads,
“It’s the only time I’ve seen anyone die.”
Which turns the focus onto the voice not the dog that just died because there owner had to euthanize it. Nevison says
“But it’s the most humane way to do it.”
is it the most humane way to do it? This is left not up for the audience to decide because the voice already told us very clearly that it is this way. Though many people might agree with ending a life quickly when they are in pain, I think it depends on your morals in life.
“Having not see the others,…”
This quote reminds me of her purpose of writing this book and make me question who the “others” are. This poem is not only about how people or things die but how we kill each other.