Columbine... April 20, 1999 (caution-some harsh graphics)

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ice
Member Elite

since 2003-05-17

Posts 3404
Pennsylvania

0 posted 2006-01-15 08:09 AM

(An old one, but the circumstance still haunts me)
.
White sparks from black pipes
Make devil-scarlet blisters
On angel white skin;
Round wounds, red and purple-
Polka dots on fallen children,
Laid out...faces covered
In school yard, and hall....

Gravity drains blood
Becoming part
Of winters dirt-debris
Mixing with snow rot,
That flows into gutters-
Spring rain homogenized;

The sun mops the leftovers,
Cleansing even evil stains
Where bullets met their mark.
*
Papers tell in bold-type notes,
Who wrote on young-life pages
            DEATH!
Posingin black and white
Last pictures taken-
Without grimace,
Caused by circumstance
(Permanent smiles)
Two columns wide (On all---as
Even the ones that killed, had died.)

Reading down the page:

The two, it says, had worked alone,
On rhyming  locks and clicks
In  lines of gunfire poetry-
Linking stanzas of spent brass
To smokeless powder, drifting
Free verse like, through thin air--
In perfect- evil symmetry-then let
Their weapon-pens write two last times;
Two last words-"commit" and "suicide".
*
Those that market new ideals
Stayed hid behind their paper charms,
Never clasping hands in prayer,
To beg forgiveness for their part
In the drawing of chalk out-lines.

In need of something to blame,
For why these children fell
I point a finger at trinket hustlers
That hold hands with politicians
Who allow a war to be made,
On all our unarmed minds;

Knowing it is not the only reason,
Knowing fully why,
Will always remain a secret.

Midnitesun

Member Empyrean

since 2001-05-18

Posts 28647
Gaia

1 posted 2006-01-15 02:03 PM

It was and remains, a tragedy. I lived near Columbine for a time, and think the trauma impact is permanent on the community of Littleton, CO.
Sadly, too many other schools nationwide have experienced this level of insanity. We will never know the full truth in any of them, and even the guilty people involved often cannot explain themselves.

Kethry
Member Rara Avis

since 2000-07-29

Posts 9082
Victoria Australia

2 posted 2006-01-15 03:22 PM

Ice,
you have written this well and it's a timely reminder that tragedy can strike at anytime and anywhere. However, for me, the real tragedy is that we haven't learned much and terror is still a part of our daily lives.

Here in the midst of my lonely abyss, a single joy I find...your presence in my mind. Unknown

serenity blaze
Member Empyrean

since 2000-02-02

Posts 27738

3 posted 2006-01-15 03:59 PM

I apologize for my silence, but like you, that day was so difficult--this poem is very hard for me to read, and that said, I can offer no critique because when I try to read this, I see it all again, and I feel it all again and I feel rather ill.

*touching the screen*

Don't misunderstand, it's not that I don't think that you shouldn't have written about it, because I think that we should not forget.

I am just too emotionally fragile right now to allow myself to dwell on it. And smile? You know my mind is such that if you say "don't look at this" I'll not only look at that, I'll carve it into my memory.

love you ford

froggy
Senior Member

since 2003-06-23

Posts 1893
Michigan

4 posted 2006-01-15 08:58 PM

A sad read.
Thank-you for not forgetting them.

Martie

Moderator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-09-21

Posts 28049
California

5 posted 2006-01-15 09:02 PM

Ford...I saw the title...and I thought maybe, just maybe you were writing about the flower. The columbine you did write is a hard topic...but yes, it's important that we don't forget. Thank you for this.

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