Teacher and poet Andy Hall examines the absurdities of violence in our contemporary society and throughout history.
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TRIGGER WARNING!
You put down that gun, BillyBob
Or I will beat you so bad you won’t sit down for a week
Don’t put the bullets in your gun, stop loading
You put one more bullet in there and so help me
Don’t pull the trigger, don’t you dare…
Don’t shoot me again…
You put that gun down, Billy Bob…
◊♦◊
We used to fight hand to hand
And use spears and catapults
Fire and rock
And gunpowder came about
Then chemicals
And nuclear
And lasers will one day be ubiquitous
As we take on some metaphor for our political
Boogeymen
◊♦◊
It seems the human race is destined to be violent
Orlando, Aurora, New Town
Columbine, Wounded Knee, My Lai, the entire
History of humanity
What can I say…
Learn how to be immortal
Neo…..
Because the bullets keep coming
The universe is exploding
And the jaws of the wormhole
We are now warping through
Are always threatening to snap shut.
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More by contributor Andy Hall:
Photo credit: Flickr/James Vaughn