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| The 12 victims of the Virginia Beach mass shooting: LaQuita C. Brown, Ryan Keith Cox, Tara Welch Gallagher, Mary Louise Gayle, Alexander Mikhail Gusev, Joshua O. Hardy, Michelle "Missy" Langer, Richard H. Nettleton, Katherine A. Nixon, Christopher Kelly Rapp, Herbert "Bert" Snelling, Robert "Bobby" Williams |
unwelcome as a thunderclap
no storm in the forecast
or that’s the printed headline
wherever humans gather
where hands stretch Velcro or loop shoelaces
classroom, church, amusement park
instill mastery of the tourniquet
combat American love
of gun metaphor and euphemism
do not soften my path to water: shower, spray
trauma shreds flesh
blood loss floods a morgue
my name began as small ball
now watch me reduce
one nation to thoughts and prayers
no storm in the forecast
or that’s the printed headline
wherever humans gather
where hands stretch Velcro or loop shoelaces
classroom, church, amusement park
instill mastery of the tourniquet
combat American love
of gun metaphor and euphemism
do not soften my path to water: shower, spray
trauma shreds flesh
blood loss floods a morgue
my name began as small ball
now watch me reduce
one nation to thoughts and prayers
Sarah E. Colona is the author of three poetry collections: Hibernaculum (Gold Wake Press, 2013), Thimbles (dancing girl press, 2012) and That Sister (dancing girl press, 2016).