Gun shots punctuate country music.
An endless series of ragged wounds
ruin amber waves of grain.
A damaged boy in black
takes aim behind his killer toy.
Gone our purple mountain majesties.
All the years I spent nurturing my child
dissolve in puddles of blood.
America! America!
Without solace, alone I become
a maternal vigilante.
Till all success be nobleness
and ev’ry gain divine.
A grieving parent, I want to destroy
weapons of rage throughout this land.
Oh, beautiful for heroes proved
in liberating strife.
My mission: Annihilate the guns.
Let the alabaster cities gleam
undimmed by human tears.
My child’s life matters.
Will you help me, please?
America? America?
From sea to shining sea.
Shirley J. Brewer serves as poet-in-residence at Carver Center for the Arts & Technology in Baltimore, MD. Recent poems appear in Barrow Street, Comstock Review, Gargoyle, Passager, Poetry East, Slant, and other journals. Shirley’s books include A Little Breast Music (2008), After Words (2013), and Bistro in Another Realm (2017).