Gaming term for an enemy that is difficult to kill.
by Brendan Constantine
My sons are in the front yard, inventing a game called ‘School Shooting.’
They play bodycam footage on their phones and hold them out like guns
(then snap their wrists in time to the sound). But no one dies in this game
because my sons don’t want to be anyone but gun men. The front yard
is a school for gun men – only dispassion is learned there, and how to reload
with a thumb. Don’t worry, I’m lying to you again. I have no sons. It’s me
in the front yard, at ten years old and twelve and fifteen and fifteen again;
I’ve got the house surrounded for the man I’ve become. He can’t hide forever.
Brendan Constantine is a poet based in Los Angeles. His work has appeared in many standards, including Poetry, The Nation, Best American Poetry, and Poem-a-Day. His first collection, “Letters to Guns” (2009 Red Hen Press) is now taught extensively in classrooms across the nation. He teaches at the Windward School and supports WoMen against Gun Violence.
Bullets into Bells 