After the 10,000th shooting,
we started saying "the latest shooting",
knowing there would be more.
In 2019, America passed 10,000,
with a total of 15,208.
In 2020, so far, the gun violence archive
lists 28,856. And counting.*
How is this even possible?
I become afraid to turn on the news,
yet can't resist. I need to know
what I can't bear to know:
that even after Sandy Hook, even after
all those little kids were shot,
the NRA and the repub right
was so strong, no laws got passed.
So here we are: in disbelief,
alternately numb and outraged,
watching with tears on our faces,
or turning away, because we cannot bear
this place we have come to.
From Canada, I feel like I am watching
a country imploding.
The story doesn't end here.
All people of good hearts and conscience
are still here, ready to cast our votes
for social justice and a kinder world.
The dark hearts make a lot of noise.
But they don't make sense.
History rolls over us like a tide.
Next year the news may report
new leaders weaving poultices
over all our open wounds,
administering hope to those of us
hanging on, on the edge of despair.
Next year we may all be singing
a relieved and more unified song.
If not, will Europe arrive
to liberate us from the fascists,
as America did on its shores in 1944?
Stay tuned.
All of this is being recorded.
*according to the gun violence archive
Inspired by "After the 10,000th Shooting" by Tony Hoagland, and Wild Writing with Laurie Wagner. These times make every thinking person political.
This is a very hard poem to read, Sherry. I hope it doesn't come to have to be liberated from fascism, but it just might come to that.
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