Prescient Poems

by Catherine Giordano

As I collect all the 2012 news print poems and format my book I see certain themes arise for the year. One of them obviously is the election—an easily predicted theme.

A less predictable theme is gun control and mass shootings. 

I did a couple of poems about gun control in June and July.

            June 1, 2012                         Guns

 July 14, 2012                        Gaps and Guns

And then the mass shootings started to happen.  As I did the first poem, I never imagined how many more I would be doing on this topic. Four in all, culminating with the most horrific, the Newtown massacre.  

            July 21, 2012                        Terror Unfolds in Colorado

 August 8, 2012                     Sikh Killings

            August 25, 2012                   Empire State Gunman     

            December 15, 2012             A Teary Obama (About Newtown)

Each time I called for gun control laws.  I’m thinking about their old protest song we used to sing about war, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”  The refrain is: “When will they ever learn?  When will they every learn?

Update 09/17/13: Today I have to update the list for the Navy Yard Shooting.

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