Havin’ a Gun around is
An Invitation to Shoot you²
Tell those who Inherit their
Rifles the Legacy of our Blood³
Who’s Got the Gun, who Owns the
Gun, who Sold the gun, who Pulls the
Gun, and who does the gun Let Sleep?⁴
Your Guts is all in your Trigger Finger⁵
If you want to Play with Firearms, you
Would do Better to take a pop at Yourself⁶
Even after people turn to Flee, the Bullets Pursue
Them, Lodging themselves in Receding Backs⁷
Only the Monstrous Anger of Guns – only the
Stuttering Rifle’s Rapid Rattle … the Shrill,
Demented Choir of the Wailing Shells⁸
Love, Chimes the Saints and Angels –
Hate Shrieks the Gun-Metal Princess⁹
How Martial is this place! Had I a
Mighty Gun, I think I’d Shoot the
Human Race – and to Glory run!¹⁰
¹ Arthur Miller, in a telegram to Lyndon B. Johnson
² Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
³ Mahmoud Darwish tr. Amira El-Zein, The Everlasting Indian Fig
⁴ Erica Hunt, Mourning Birds
⁵ Budd Schulberg, On the Waterfront
⁶ Anton Chekhov tr. Constance Garnett, Uncle Vanya
⁷ Arundhati Roy, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness
⁸ Wilfred Owen, Anthem for Doomed Youth
⁹ Diane Kendig, A Cento on Frida Kahlo’s “Diego on My Mind”
¹⁰ Emily Dickinson, My Friend Attacks My Friend!