the killings at Kent State
prelude
the lists don’t show
who shot whom
except
for whom
we don’t know the perpetrators
with
the guns
and certainly there are sides
though only
one side
was
you know
armed
more so we could
search documents or
talk with folk
to
know and note
who
gave orders
as if to say to children then
don’t learn more
or
your elders
might just as well
kill you
requiem
if you were at Kent State
in 1970
on the fourth of
May
you should have heard
shots
and known some of your peers
had been killed
by intramural soldiers of your nation
learning the price
of protest
I suppose
except that’s absurd
because the nation’s youth
and anyone who’s here under rights
and that
everyone
should not have to speak out at the cost
of loss of
life
and who had guns
but only soldiers
the only thing destructive
on
the students’ sides were
voices
yes
and maybe
numbers
it was tragic all around
unreasonably
even
stupidly
frankly so
I mean
what parent generation calls for killing
of its children
what learning process
even with complexity
goes so far
so
terminally far
to send a message
don’t learn anymore
don’t grow
don’t try
ever
again
c l couch
Taking place in 1970, the Kent State Shootings (also known as the Kent State Massacre or May 4 Massacre) were the killing of four and wounding of nine unarmed college students by the Ohio National Guard on the Kent State University campus.
(Wikipedia and me)
Jeffrey Glenn Miller
Allison Beth Krause
William Knox Schroeder
Sandra Lee Scheuer
plus nine more students shot, wounded
photo by Ally Griffin on Unsplash
(stairways in Kent Ohio USA)
(x = space)
x
x
Covenant-Keeping
x
We grieve
That is the right response
x
It happens right away
And is ongoing
x
Mostly it’s the loss
And who’d have thought
x
Regardless
Of the news
x
It should happen
On a school day?
x
While we still think
Of school days
x
The days when
Sun and light should happen
x
On the playground
Or we stay inside
x
When tension in the classroom
Over subjects is enough
x
How did we make the trade
Of shoes on tile
x
For the reports
Of guns instead?
x
For now it is the loss
We don’t want
x
To imagine
Even though there are
x
Those who must
See and hear
x
And every other sense
Invest
x
In the lifting
And the carrying away
x
Even then,
Through the earthly horror
x
There is what’s inside
Now gone
x
To grieve the most
Shock, fear, crashing grief
x
Anger and activity
And needful inactivity
x
Maybe someday about
The keeping and the letting go
x
C L Couch
x
x
x
Dark Peony
Photo by Gayatri Malhotra on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
All the Children
x
It doesn’t take much
To go into a classroom
Filled with children
And a teacher
Carrying guns
And then proceed to shoot
There are no opponents
And no challenges
There
Where is the victory, then?
The mannish triumph?
Only destruction
Taking lives
Of those who don’t fight back
Cowardly command
Of a situation
Why not keep it to
A video game
Electrons make the hell of it
Pouring onto Earth?
x
This does not address
The visceral:
The violence of bullets
Piercing children’s flesh
And what the bullets do,
Once inside
Was this accomplishment?
Or would the defense
Have been insanity,
Should the shooter
Plan to live beyond the killing?
x
We’ll never know
There might have been no expectation
To live, after
It doesn’t matter
Unless to know
Somehow prevents another
Time
Of people killing children
Because they can
x
C L Couch
x
x
Here are the latest developments in the Uvalde elementary school mass shooting
As the town of Uvalde in South Texas mourns the killing of 19 students and two teachers at an elementary school, a vigil was held for the victims at a community arena Wednesday night.
“Amazing Grace” was played as those in attendance wept and hugged.
The mass shooting on Tuesday has again spurred statewide and national conversations over gun control, following on two others over a two-week period —at a supermarket in Buffalo, New York, and a church in Laguna Woods, California.
x
Down Roads We Go
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash
New Forest National Park, United Kingdom
x
(x = space)
x
x
Untimely
x
I want to sense
The world around me
I suppose most of us do
Even if the world
Has been
An awful place
From time to time
x
It is our home
It’s what we have
And should we leave
Before it’s time
Our absence will be
Missed
By angels in the cosmos
x
There will be keening
As the rings of heaven
Move against
Each other
In a way
They’re not supposed to
x
C L Couch
x
for all the children killed in schools
x
x
Kids hopscotch game in playground.
Photo by Eric Tompkins on Unsplash
x
(x = space)
x
x
no God approves
x
sorry for those who died
from explosions and gunfire
at the Kabul airport
from those who believe
that civilians trying to escape
is not a sanctioned reason
to let live, rather to meet
with onslaught that
no God approves
x
c l couch
x
x
photo by Joe Woods on Unsplash
x
No Time for Corruption
Hell, no time for disagreement
The Kurds need recognition
Identification as a community
Militias need discipline
If they’re going to exist at all
Iraq needs to find its center
If it’s going to overwhelm ISIS
And not defeat itself
What do we do, we from the
Outside?
We have resources, maybe we
Have time, we have perspective
More importantly, we can care
Stratagems and de-stabling
Agendas aside, sixty-six persons
Died—were killed—in a bombing
In Sadr marketplace
I know we don’t know this place
We might not know how to say
It
But sixty-six
How many families is that
I swear, we should invoke the
Real Isis, god of wisdom and
Brother to the god of the dead
Let her sort it out, if we cannot
Find the wisdom in ourselves
Burnt Cabins,
Pennsylvania
We’ve suffered
A local tragedy
That might never
Be explained
Even if a reason’s
Given
We have a super
Highway—yes,
America’s
First “super
Highway”—that
Is the Pennsylvania
Turnpike, and
A retired trooper
Of the state
Police tried a
Robbery at one
Of the stations
There
Between small
Towns in the
Allegheny Mountains,
Two workers
Are taken, held
By his gun,
Until the truck
Arrives to gather
Monies from the
Turnpike tolls
The theft occurs
And fails, the
Captives shot
And killed; the
Officer-now-
Suspect is killed,
Too
Serving troopers
Prepared and
assigned, had
Arrived to restore
An aberrant,
Criminal scene
Back to ordinary
Nothing ordinary
Anymore here:
With tears, the
Deaths are told
Each word
Sounding like
The heavy note
Of a mourning
Bell
Sadness ringed
Round sadness,
As voices split
To tell
It will be a
Story of
Transgression
And the sorrow
Brought to many
Kinds of
Families, and
It might pass
From focused
Attention
But here was a
Neighbor tragedy
On persons who
Will not
Appear in their
Expected places
At work or at
Home
And others living
Who will never
Be the same
A chance for
Money maybe
Too easy a
Reason for all
That befell
Close by—I
Tend to believe
Something else
About surrendering
Life happened
Here
Pittsburgh Last Night
Pittsburgh where I grew up
Five persons killed by two others
Using guns for the sole purpose
Of murder
The victims
Hoping without conscious
Thought to take part in the
Open—a backyard festivity
Homiest of parties
Home belief destroyed
Celebration as a cause
Never believed in again
Debates will go on
Who cares
The sides were answered
Yesterday
Talk is over when bullets
Tear through people
Debate done
clcouch123 
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