Friday, June 24, 2022

U.S. SUPREME COURT PROTECTS GUNS

by Penelope Scambly Schott


Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast: “Inside the Celebrity Murder Behind the Gun Law SCOTUS Just Gutted,” June 23, 2022


“A State may not prevent law-abiding citizens from publicly carrying handguns because they have not demonstrated a special need for self-defense,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote.


Through the arched cap
of my neighbor’s brick chimney
the sky so deep blue
and above his chimney
and all around town
while here in my garden        
yellow roses pink roses
and across the continent
over distant chimneys
under other skies
the noise of gunshots
the triumph of lies


Penelope Scambly Schott is a past recipient of the Oregon Book Award for Poetry. Her newest book is On Dufur Hill, poems about the cycle of the year in a small wheat-growing town.