the morning
of the full red moon
I read of another shooting
this time in a NJ grocery store,
three dead
& yes we are reeling
from the shock of it
& yes this loss of lives
for no reason
is sickening
but this is happening
so often
my reaction is muting
softening
shifting from outrage
to a sad shake
of my head
what I want to know
what I really need to know
is why this summer
is a season of blood,
mass shootings;
why this summer
carries a series of offerings
to the god of iron and lead;
a god who is by all means
not hungry–he is bloated
& fat–even that blood god
cannot be thirsty now
& I want to know
what insanity
filters through
the collective unconscious
of this planet–
if evil can spread
from one mind to another
like a virus carried on breath
because getting used to murder
is an unforgivable thing
red moon or not
Susan Daniels Poetry 
Exactly, Susan! Yes! We cannot allow ourselves to become enured to this. Every incident like this should shock us. Every pointless death like this should freeze our blood and bring tears. When the tears stop, then have we given up. Then have we embraced this insanity as the normal state of affairs. And I will not!
Yes, George–we cannot and we must not!
Very powerful, and a subject extremely dear to my heart. Your frustraion, and those of many, are clear and written wonderfully. We can’t just accept the invevitabilities, we’re tasked with changing them sometimes, and guns are one of those things that need change, or more young people will keep dying. Its scary when its not even front page news anymore, what for lack of space for a Mitt or a Kardashian…(from this Brooklyn boy’s biased insight). Very deep works.
Danny, thanking you, and wishing to God I did not have to write another of these.
Real people do not need guns to be hip! Real people do not carry guns! So long as there are guns, so will blood continue to spill to feed the thirst of OGUN, the god of metal and war in yoruba cosmology! As we mourn the departed, let us commence action to change gun laws!
Amen! We SO need to change these laws.
Yes, it leaves me wondering, too.
And wondering why gun control remains a third rail.
It SO should not. We need to decide whose rights we want to defend–the innocent their right to live, or the insane/criminal their right to injure/kill others.
I am sick of these shootings, I think people are beginning to do it at will knowing there are no major ramifications. They claim insanity or kilss themselves…the govt needs to wake up and start dishing tough punishment, fix this broken gun laws and keep people safer…I am so pissed!
Me too, Boomie. I cannot take more of these, I swear.
deeply shattering ~ What are we humans coming to!
To nothing good, I am afraid.
If only we could propel love into someone at the speed of sound, across a hundred yards, and if need be, with a scope.
oh–what a brilliant idea…
Plenty of folks will spend their time finding better ways to kill, but how many spend their time finding better ways to love?
I like it…I really do.
Powerful statement of a bitter and unfortunate reality.
thanks–I wish I did not have to write these.