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      April 23, 2023RumorsKaty Luxem

      Someone gets mad. A boy
      brings a gun to school
      and plans to use it
      seventh period. At the end
      of the day, the bell sounds.
      My daughter runs to the car
      like a shot. Leaving
      books and questions in her
      locker. I hug her
      under the crooked cherry,
      where blossoms flurry.
      It’s so hard to believe
      the trees grow this way.

      from Poets Respond

      Katy Luxem

      “This week, Americans were (again) exposed to a series of high-profile acts of gun violence: A white homeowner shot a black teen who rang the wrong doorbell. In another state, another man fired on three vehicles that mistakenly drove up his driveway, killing a young woman. And at my 12-year-old daughter’s middle-school in our suburb, rumors of a child bringing a gun to class threw the school into chaos and terror for two days. I cannot believe I am here, writing this poem, knowing this horrible issue is always at the corners of our life, waiting to burst in.”

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