Because we all want to write more poems.
History lesson
They made the first gun
in late 10th century China
(where else?)— a genuine boomstick.
Cannons and long-bore guns and rifles and pistols,
for a thousand bloody years thereafter
clever minds and hands tinkered away
refining and perfecting the dream
of handheld death.
None along this journey could know
(though many might have guessed)
that on a Saturday in December of 2012,
in rural western Pennsylvania,
Joseph Loughrey, quite by accident,
would fatally shoot his 7-year-old son Craig
with a carefully machined descendant
of the Chinese invention.
The news reported they were getting in his truck
when Joseph recapitulated history:
“As he was placing the handgun on the console
with his right hand while pulling the truck door shut
with his left hand, the handgun accidentally discharged.”
Craig was on his booster seat to meet the leaden missive.
“Mr. Loughrey told police that he had unloaded
the magazine at home, but didn’t realize
that a bullet remained in the chamber.”
In an instant, all the weight of history
resounded in Craig’s small chest;
it was a lesson he could not bear.
Joseph, surely unaware of it,
nevertheless will never forget.
- Benjamin Gorman's Shared Poems
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Comments
Michele McFadden
December 20, 2012
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History Lesson
Prescient