Ten year old child killed in crossfire at 10 AM/10 PM
Ten year old child killed in crossfire at 10 AM/10 PM
“They” say it so often,
It becomes the background music to our daily life dances…
Shopping, driving, sleeping, walking to the beat
Ten year old child killed in crossfire at 10 AM/10 PM
The chant fills our heads
So that by the time we see the child,
we can not discern between the photos and the actual shattered faces
of the parents of the 10 year old child killed at 10 AM/10 PM
on the streets of Boston, New York City, LA, Lagos, Gaza City, Kabul…
Does it matter?
After all it only happened at 10 AM/10 PM ago!

 

Janet Cormier is a painter, writes prose and poetry, and performs comedy. JC prefers different and original over pretty. She loves collecting stuff, but cleaning not so much. Janet also talks to strangers… a lot. Her column appears weekly in Oddball Magazine.