Arts Alive San Antonio

UVALDE: The Day After
By Aiham Kamakhly

This morning, the sky is black
as though the clouds have voted to block the sun.
I walk heavily, hiding between myself and my mind.
I, a stranger who finds joy in the eyes of Texas students,
lost it this morning when a child
looked at me and smiled.
How many times should adults on this earth
apologize for the feigned smile of a frightened child?
Uvalde, in far-away countries are cities like you
that bury their children with the same heartbreak;
the only difference is, your children’s killer – another child –
used your country’s Constitution and laws.
No one can compensate you, Uvalde,

but one day we must learn from the clouds
how rain falls and spring blooms.

                                          ————————————————————-

                      Elegy for a Young Artist with a Big Heart
                      By Jean Hackett

(Dedicated to Alithia Ramirez, the Girl who Consoled Others with her Art, and to her Parents, Ryan Ramirez and Jessica Hernandez, who Shared their Daughter’s Sketches with the World to Remind Us how much We Lost in the Uvalde Shooting)

                     Mylar balloons, mountains of Care Bears, thoughts and prayers
                     rise above twenty-two crosses, including one for you, Alithia.
                     They mark your hometown’s shocked, silent sobbing in the wake of another shooting.
                     Since you’ve been gone, newspapers around the world have listed names of the dead,
                     and politicians have thrown temper tantrums,
                     calling each other names too nasty for any fourth-grader bully to shout.
                     
                     The grown-ups don’t know what to do.
                     But you would have, Alithia.
                     If you’d survived, you’d have brushed away your watercolor tears.
                     pulled out rainbow markers and created sketches in bright ink
                     to bring smiles to Uvalde —
                     just as you did for Nico’s heartbroken mother
                     when her son, your friend, died in a hit and run.

                     You’d fashion portraits of love decked out with angel wings –
                     of students and teachers doing what they adored —
                     Layla running field day races, six blue ribbons pinned to her shirt,
                     Ellie beaming within the tulle confection of her dream quinceñera gown,
                     Xavier dancing to Colombian music,
                     Cousins Jailah and Jace and Jackie and Annabel savoring the hand-kneaded earthiness
                     of Christmas tamales with extended family,
                     Mrs. Garcia and Mrs. Mireles wishing everyone a happy summer.

                     You’d promise to stay in touch with grieving friends and families,
                     and keep reaching out as you did for Nico’s mom.
                     Alithia, though you have left this earth,
                     you keep reaching out to us.
                     Your life shows us how a young artist with a big heart
                     knew to express compassion
                     to those feeling sorrow beyond grief.