i cradle a 5 year old's body in my arms

watch the blood trickle from his chest

wonder if this will ever be okay to talk about

if we will ever be able to stomach it enough

to talk about the murder of 20 elementary schoolers

so the news cycle continues and they point fingers

at what is to blame— if it's the guns or the mental health

or the violent video games

and they point fingers so much that they forget

to actually do something about it

so the years pass and i hold the hands of

thousands with red bubbling at their lips

and i listen to the politicians saying now isn't

a good time to talk about it

maybe they want to wait for

the parents to stop screaming

the lovers to stop hurting

the friends to stop crying

but it won't stop

because the violence won't stop

and i touch the cheek of a dead kindergartener

wonder if maybe it's not that we can't stomach it

it's that we can and we do every single day

and that's why 20 dead children wasn't enough

to make us change.

-c.h.