MY THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO YOU

by Melissa BalmainWell, of course your mom was precious and I'm sad she's not alive, but the answer's not to confiscate my HK MP5�it's to hand all moms their own! You'd still be Mama's honeybunif, instead of brunch on Mother's Day, you'd thought...

BREAKING POINT

by David ChorltonHe was there to play, not to party. The night before the shooting, Mr. Paddock made two complaints to the hotel about noise coming from his downstairs neighbors: Albert Garzon, a restaurant owner visiting from San Diego, and his wife...

STARING AT A SHELF OF BOURBON

by Megan Merchant Three days later my husband is on his wayhome from Vegas. I stop to buy bourbon, the expensive kind,as if this is just a movie and I can pour it into the woundto keep it from spreading. I sketch words to avoid using�blood, gun,...

EARLY MONDAY MORNING

by Peg QuinnEvery screen screams another mass shooting.I lug a bucket of water saved fromwarming my shower to a begonia,its blossoms neither red, or magenta buta bright blending of the two together.Soft clouds dance a brisk parade cross the sky.Peg...

THIS TIME

by Heather NewmanA police officer directed a bystander off the crime scene on the Boston Common. JOSH REYNOLDS FOR THE BOSTON GLOBE, September 12, 20171.On a mid-September afternoonin historic Boston Commonmultiple gunshots were firednear the bandstand,...

SWAMP POEM

a sonnet by Cindy HochmanAdd captionThrow your old comb & hairbrush into the swamp.Throw your hamper full of dirty laundry into the swamp.Throw that bad poem you wrote this morning into the swamp.Throw your shattered-after-the-breakup heart into...

WHAT FEEDS US

by Amy Strauss FriedmanEach morning I reach into a bag of broken heartsto feed my dog. Chicken biscuits in fragmentsfrom freighting. He devours them wholeas if his survival hinges on love, on ancestry,an ancient civilization that still remembers him.He...

TAKING A KNEE

by Martin OttYou could be getting knighted or holding a ring,the sun lined up squarely in the sights of your throw.I have worn a uniform, positioned flags at half mast,and aimed a rifle in the air while caskets are lowered.You could be praying or imagining...

WHEN JESUS TOOK A KNEE

by Alejandro Escud�When Jesus took a kneebeside the palm treeand the Romans therepaused, gulped the air,no one could believePontius Pilate�s decreethat all those whodid the same, whotook a knee as Jesusdid, those dividing us,meaning the Romans,should...

SHIP-WRECKED MEXICANS

by Gil HoyAll thoseAmerican citizensWith no food,No waterOn an islandSurrounded byBig waterOcean water,Are gettingrowdy and unruly.Let the wild winds howl,Let the flooding rains run.Editor's note: The title is an epithet defined here.Gil Hoy is a Boston...