by Nan Ottenritter
We treat our bald friend to the movies.
She’s three chemos down, three to go.
1.
A security officer at a women’s health clinic
arrives in the morning dark, organizes to assure
guests’ safety as Christian abortion protestors
take to the bull horn, scream at the sinners.
This childless guard wonders if, by aborting
her first child, she doomed the next to stillbirth.
2.
In 2022, photojournalist Brent Renauld was killed in Ukraine.
He said his autism helped him remain calm in war zones.
We see his war photos as well as videos of his brother with the
friend who desperately tried to save him. In tears, I secretly
wondered why we exposed our suffering friend to this.
3.
Journalist dad of a young girl reports on vacant bedrooms
of children murdered in school shootings. They remain as they were
when the child was gunned down. SpongeBob pillows, hair ties,
trophies testify to a child’s life well-lived. Dad returns home and
his daughter paints his fingernails green.
The world’s pain surrounds us. No amount of candy or popcorn
can keep it out of our movie theatres, health clinics, wars, or schools.
We walk out, stunned, and apologize to our friend.
Nan Ottenritter has published chapbooks Eleanor, Speak (Finishing Line Press, 2021) and My Year 2023 (2024). She co-edited Discovery, Recovery: A Journey with Veterans (2023) and has been published in Artemis, Still Points Quarterly, Poetry Society of Virginia Anthologies, Dissent: an anthology to end war and capitalism (2023), and Writing the Land: Virginia (NatureCulture LLC, 2024). Her concern about American democracy has prompted her to read and understand the books of contemporary historians and host informal Citizens' Salons with friends, neighbors, and strangers in informal settings.
She’s three chemos down, three to go.
1.
A security officer at a women’s health clinic
arrives in the morning dark, organizes to assure
guests’ safety as Christian abortion protestors
take to the bull horn, scream at the sinners.
This childless guard wonders if, by aborting
her first child, she doomed the next to stillbirth.
2.
In 2022, photojournalist Brent Renauld was killed in Ukraine.
He said his autism helped him remain calm in war zones.
We see his war photos as well as videos of his brother with the
friend who desperately tried to save him. In tears, I secretly
wondered why we exposed our suffering friend to this.
3.
Journalist dad of a young girl reports on vacant bedrooms
of children murdered in school shootings. They remain as they were
when the child was gunned down. SpongeBob pillows, hair ties,
trophies testify to a child’s life well-lived. Dad returns home and
his daughter paints his fingernails green.
The world’s pain surrounds us. No amount of candy or popcorn
can keep it out of our movie theatres, health clinics, wars, or schools.
We walk out, stunned, and apologize to our friend.
Nan Ottenritter has published chapbooks Eleanor, Speak (Finishing Line Press, 2021) and My Year 2023 (2024). She co-edited Discovery, Recovery: A Journey with Veterans (2023) and has been published in Artemis, Still Points Quarterly, Poetry Society of Virginia Anthologies, Dissent: an anthology to end war and capitalism (2023), and Writing the Land: Virginia (NatureCulture LLC, 2024). Her concern about American democracy has prompted her to read and understand the books of contemporary historians and host informal Citizens' Salons with friends, neighbors, and strangers in informal settings.