Topical Poem

i hate
writing anything that dates
itself
to a
current event

i'm happy to read them
but i have never considered
myself to be a topical writer

Trump is a piece of shit
but i don't want to waste a metaphor
to tell you that

Black Lives Matter
but that's a strong enough phrase on its own
without me craftily adding poetics to it

but
alas
i have to write about a current event

and i've already spent more time
writing about writing about it
than about it

i don't like writing about writing
either

so i am breaking two routines
here

the shooting in Las Vegas
is gut-punching
heart-punching
soul-punching

it's a foul example
of a foul truth

we love
we write
we hold doors open for the elderly

we do nice shit
a lot of nice shit
all day
most days

and i can't stop thinking about the last time
the shooter in Las Vegas held the door open
for an older person

the feeling in his heart
holding that door
a small thing that we all do
just to feel like we're part of it together

and juxtaposing that idea
to him busting out that hotel window
and feeling like he wasn't part of it anymore

it sickens me
and it saddens me

my heart breaks for the destroyed

my heart breaks for the destroyed
first

but
just like Columbine
or the postals
i grieve for the destroyer
too

i'm not saying i should
i'm not saying you should
i'm not saying anybody should

i'm just saying that i do