By Cameron Jury Based on Parkland, Sandy Hook, and Columbine “Hello, I am looking to buy a gun. Can you help me?” “Of course! I can start by telling you About our top sellers. Our crowd favorite is the AR-15; Known for its easy rapid re-fire, Holds a 20 round magazine, And is customizable. Its … More The Cost

By Claire Neubert school bus: Prison Detail on the front Two Kroger water jugs sloshing over potholes Tattooed skin against pink trees and still air-switching the sign from drive slow to stop: safety first.   One lane road and the smell of burning leaves and a fading fall. Frogs croak-cicada whirls, vultures move out of … More This Second

By Clayre Benzadon May bells, may bells continue chiming Mary’s tears— nursery myrtle used to crown heroes. Today, lemon- grass summer pools deceive more than usual. Nursery chimes sound like firehammers, when they work. They can blow a skull, bash a fragment of gunmetal, steel a teacher—a teacher always has their students’ backs. That’s how … More Parkland

By Sheila Squillante —for my daughter, after Parkland     Dear teacher, my daughter is terrified Dear locker, yellow metal, filled Dear blood on the floor. It’s how things are. Dear locked door My daughter is supposed to++++++++++++++++++++++++hide inside. Dear bullets that tore through your +++++++++++organs. Dear dear. Dear boy holding shut the door and … More She Was Instructed to Hide Inside a Locker

by Mary Volmer A performance poem for three actors. 1, 2, and 3 stand in a row, each holding behind her back a small scroll filled with names of people killed by gun violence. Very little movement except in their faces and voices, and in the eventual unfurling of the scrolls. The stage is bare. … More CHEKHOV’S LAW

By Lisa Norris I can’t look at the markers on the field for the slain who were shot, and last night’s production of Lear, when good Gloucester’s eyes were removed, is in my brain on continuous loop: once, I was happy here, wasn’t I? I grew tomatoes, raised children and taught people who went on … More Revisiting Virginia Tech

By Allison Blevins   when a school becomes a front line, it helps to imagine my children at their desks still as stones. It helps me to remember that some bullets were meant for some children like prophecies inscribed on metal:  name, location, hair and eye color. I imagine my own children startled into the … More On Days Like This Day,

By Conor Kelly About the Author Conor Kelly is an Irish poet, living in a rural town in West Clare. He has had poems printed in Irish, British, American and Mexican magazines.

By Jen Karetnick Don’t offer me the Chic Lady Handgun with a barrel the color of bubblegum, faux alligator case included to carry with tests and term papers done, nor the Ruger with recoil reduced, semi-automatic, raspberry hued, to be hung from a bra holster like fruit until an active shooter has been cued. Take … More How to Dis/Arm a Female Teacher

By Cintia Santana “How Does This Compare with Other Mass Shootings? —New York Times, June 12, 2016 On one hand, I hold the iPhone, all news made small, and on the other, your hand, by which I also mean the memory of your breath, tracing my face as morning opened around us. How do I … More Scales