Tuesday, August 23, 2011

#092/100 Slaughter


They tell you that they're sorry for your son's death
but we can't apologize for the slaughter--it's the 
gunman's fault, not our government's. It'd have
been the same tragedy if it'd happened in any
other places in this world, like Norway.

Elsewhere in this world a group of tourists would 
hold their breath until the gun in the gunman's 
head went off after eleven hours on a tour bus.
From day to night from silent pleas to fury
at the permanent loss of one's livelihood:

Why does the government not speak to me but
lock up my brother? & the brother's panic 
on a tiny TV screen. Pull the trigger now
& blow these hands & faces & brains 
into pieces, the ex-police officer had

nothing more to lose. Everyone else had their
lives & dignity to shed as the SWAT team
flaunted broken guns & hammers--oh so
handy to break into the vehicle to find
a hand dangling in blood out of the

car's smashed door. & they tell you there was
nothing more they could have done to save
your son or the others whose spirits left
their bodies to become ghosts in that
foreign country, or the ones whose

faces would stay disfigured for the rest of their
lives. let them walk down the streets like the
living dead with mouths that wouldn't close. 
you can get US$1150 for compensation
for each person if that's what you want.

& that's what you get for weeping to a photo of 
your son at the slaughter site. that's where 
you always will be until the end of time.
& your son the tour guide consoles you, 
mum, it's ok i know my way in heaven.

1 comment:

  1. Powerfully said, Nicolle. Tragedy leaves years of grief behind its moment of blaze.

    ReplyDelete