A message from the author:
“Here is a very long poem that I wrote a few years ago. I live in North Mpls. and wrote it one night when someone drove through the alley and shot my house, and I just had enough.“
Shot Part One
We get shot when we go to movies.
we get shot at school.
we get shot while shopping.
we get shot at work.
we get shot at nightclubs.
we get shot at concerts.
we get shot driving down the freeway.
we get shot sitting in our cars or
sitting on our porches.
we get shot while dancing.
we get shot at worship.
we get shot at the park.
we get shot with kids holding our hands.
kids get shot.
Some of us who are Brown or Black
get shot for knocking on white people’s doors,
for selling water,
for running away.
we get shot doing our homework.
we get shot in our yards or
jumping on a trampoline.
we get shot on playgrounds.
we get shot on block corners.
we get shot riding our bicycles.
we get shot in the street.
we get shot at funerals and
weddings the kid selling
lemonade and ice cream gets
shot.
Shot Part Two
The grandmas get shot.
the little girls get shot.
the teenagers at a house party
get shot.
our houses get shot.
our dogs get shot.
our cars get shot.
our
kids get shot.
women get shot for disobeying or
for leaving or for daring to love some other.
women get shot by the suicidal man who
gets shot by himself.
women get shot by boyfriends
by husbands
by fathers by brothers
by sons
by other women
by random people who
shoot
people
who go to movies or
shopping or
night clubs or
who
drive their
cars
with kids
in them
and
kids
get
shot.
srj 8-5-2019
