RUMORS
Someone gets mad. A boy
brings a gun to school
and plans to use it
seventh period. At the end
of the day, the bell sounds.
My daughter runs to the car
like a shot. Leaving
books and questions in her
locker. I hug her
under the crooked cherry,
where blossoms flurry.
It’s so hard to believe
the trees grow this way.
—from Poets Respond
April 23, 2023
__________
Katy Luxem: “This week, Americans were (again) exposed to a series of high-profile acts of gun violence: A white homeowner shot a black teen who rang the wrong doorbell. In another state, another man fired on three vehicles that mistakenly drove up his driveway, killing a young woman. And at my 12-year-old daughter’s middle-school in our suburb, rumors of a child bringing a gun to class threw the school into chaos and terror for two days. I cannot believe I am here, writing this poem, knowing this horrible issue is always at the corners of our life, waiting to burst in.” (web)
