Preamble:
After Newtown, people asked what could you say to those parents who lost children?
I ask what could we say to the children who we failed to
Protect? What could we possibly give as explanation?
 |
| (Collage by Cynthia Jacobi) |
Let Us Explain How This Happened In Your School
by Cynthia Jacobi
It
happened because the mother was odd
and the boy was weird
because
neighbors did not bake cookies to greet them
blank
curtains were drawn and lawns were wide
Because
the mother could no longer sing the boy to sleep
because
the mother didn’t lock the safe or hide the key
because
the other kids pushed him aside
It
happened because the mother took the boy to practice
because
the mother took the boy Christmas shopping
because
America sells mega-magazines everywhere
and Hollywood
sells violence
It
happened because of Gun Luv
because
we are the land of the brave and the free
and
cowboys and Bonnie and Clyde
because
bullets open doors to entry
Because
the boy didn’t need to reload much
It
happened because the NRA
loudspeakers
spread dollars and fear
because
there was no good guy with a gun
to shoot the bad guy with a gun
It
happened because we fail to be horrified for long
because
hunters of quail and rabbit are silent
Because
reasonable people find no reason to be so
It
happened because we have forgotten the poems
we once
knew by heart
.
