Fall 2023

Magic trick

By W. Vandoren Wheeler

At the scene of the shooting
I pinched my white gloves on.
Let me see your hands.
I picked up the officer’s pistol,
the wallet the officer thought

was a pistol, picked up the bullet
Let me see your hands
shells, the blood
drops, set each prop
in a body bag I sawed
in half, opened,
Let me see
closed.

Up to my elbows
into the black
Let me see
bag’s opening
to pull out a
your goddamn

dove, dead,
hands
untamed, its wings
hands
wild in my chest.


W. Vandoren Wheeler

W. Vandoren Wheeler was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He has published poems in publications such as H_NGM_NForkliftOhioConduit, and ratemyprofessor.com. His book The Accidentalist won the Dorothy Brunsman Poetry Prize and was published by Bear Star Press. He teaches in Portland, Oregon, and is finishing a manuscript called Lonely & Co.

View the website of W. Vandoren Wheeler

Fall 2023