Wednesday, June 22, 2022

PICTURE PROBLEM

by Rémy Dambron


Video footage (via The Texas Tribune) recorded inside Robb Elementary School in Uvalde at 12:04 p.m. May 24. Authorities stormed the classroom at 12:50 p.m.


this picture
evidence we all see 
now for the first time

released 

officers’ long guns drawn
from behind ballistic shields 
formed up for an advance 

but shockingly at a halt

at least five men
sworn trained and well-armed
against the one 

*murderer of children still

the photo’s caption 
stating the time scene was 
captured

12:04pm

just underneath 
another detail displayed
authorities storm the classroom

12:50pm

forty-six minutes
they stood by to witness
as calls for help simply went

(unanswered)

as parents right outside 
against their wishes 
hands tied

by more armed men who just waited

for forty-six minutes
they wouldn’t act, only witness
another sickening school shooting

ensue


Rémy Dambron is a former English teacher now Portland-based poet whose writing focuses on denouncing political corruption and advocating for social/environmental justice. With the help of his chief editor and loving wife, his works have appeared in What Rough Beast, Poets Reading the News, Writers Resist, Words & Whispers, Spillwords, Robot Butt, and The New Verse News