Jordan Escobar
BECAUSE A BODY CAN SWALLOW A BULLET FASTER THAN A HEART CAN RECALL LOSS
and everybody can remember the sharp taste of agony
because we all long for the trigger touch
of a weapon fashioned to our liking
soft-coddled in our warm arms
and today a boy in Texas fashioned his fear and hate into a trigger
and pulled
we look on like clay pigeons
gaping and breaking
startled by our own brittleness
that a body bleeds and bleeds again
that children bleed
that guilt is written in brass and blood
that our hiding spots are not sacred
and those small bones demand
an open mouth be shut
because only truth can spill from a dead tongue
we’ll sprinkle their graves with
thoughts&prayers and thoughts&prayer
our lips coated in gunpowder and shame
tomorrow the sun rises in the east
a crimson stain against gray sky
tomorrow the desert is filled with silence
tomorrow we’ll continue shopping
for all the things we need
to keep us feeling safe