Flumes Volume 2: Issue 1, Summer 2017 | Page 104

Poem 414

by Laurie Hesed

NPR said this morning

that our little town is mourning three

killed at the lawnmower plant

just three days ago.

That's incomplete.

In fact, we are mourning four,

including the shooter

who took down the other three

as well as wounding fourteen,

some critically, some seriously,

some fair.

There is nothing fair

about this rampage,

and there is gratitude

for the sheriff

who was the first responder

after people had been shot

in transit along the way.

From a few miles southwest

where he attempted

to commandeer a car,

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