getting burned

‘It’s all gut stuff’ he said or something like
she was afraid of the bunnies, or the crawlies
‘the kinder are in the garden’, little stings and fun
and not paying attention though somewhere else
is here too. The world isn’t made of china
things crack, a crisis in the crystal. ‘What is this
bombing madness’ is no longer a question
and the yards not refuges are where you watch.
Come out to play, you will get splinters
you have not the stomach for but there is
more hunger than you understand, no longer
is there time for you if the plants won’t grow.

You can say your finger was not on the trigger
the gun went off anyway.


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