WE NEED GUNS

“a murder of crows; a hell of guns”

Oh, Vatican, have your bank clear
our way to guns! We need them

in our beauty shops, our schools, our class
rooms, for our children with soft bodies.

If we are going to transform our way
of life into an arsenal, we need guns
in our funeral parlors, our barber
shops, our tattoo and bingo parlors.
We need guns in our soup,
our armoire, our one night
stands, and our kitchen spice rack.

In our police stations, our kitchen
cupboards, our dirty clothes hampers,
in our kindergartens. We need them
in our garden sheds, gyms and sauna;
in our garters, in our falafels,
in our operas and theaters,
in our forensic laboratories,
our beds, our burritos,

courtrooms, hospitals, mythic narratives,
and temples, mosques, synagogues,
and churches! We need guns
in our Jell-O, our chili, our guitar
cases, our dance studios, our prisons,
our television studios, in airplanes, on birthdays,
in birthday cakes, at birthday parties.

At Mardi Gras, in syringes,
in cemeteries, our text books,
our bath rooms, divorce courts,
and ball games. We need guns galore!