Poets Respond to the Uvalde Tragedy, Part 3
Bethlehem
By Jonathan Fletcher
When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi,
he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem
and its vicinity who were two years old and under,
in accordance with the time from the Magi.
The Gospel of Matthew 2:16 (NIV)
I’m tired of your thoughts and prayers, the massacres
of innocents. Herod’s not to blame this time. Nor are
the Roman legions. Without shields and javelins, they
wouldn’t have surrounded the mud-brick homes. Or
trampled the doors with ease, then forced the fathers
back with wooden plates, iron points. Or seized the
mothers, then speared their sons. You claim the
problem is not the weaponry but the Devil and his
demons. Or that Christ is no longer in the schools.
But there was still a slaughter in Bethlehem. A sole
survivor, too: Baby Jesus, swaddled in linen cloths,
cradled by his parents, soft, green hay for cushions,
an angel for protection. If I bend my knee to that
child, do you promise to stand for the others?
La Llorona Cries for her Child
By Jen Yáñez-Alaniz
She mourns
Her child gone
No more adventures for her child to build memories
No chance to enjoy symphonic electricity at Current Joy concerts
No chance to collect Junji Ito images and pose with art at galleries
There will never be an opportunity to go to Halcyon at Blue Star
to drink coffee with hipsters or bike along the river or go tubing
or plan double dates with a sibling and their sweethearts
New sent selfies from her child edited as Gifs or memes designed with music
and flashing fonts that read: Happy Mothers Day or Happy Birthday or
Mom — I love you
will never again download to her iOS camera roll
The dance trends on TikTok
that might have amused her child as a teen
will never post to family chats and threads
She will never laugh at the funny failed moves
of The Renegade
She has taken the Covid-19 masks she made for her child
and she has sewn them into a quilt
There is irony in sewing a patchwork from masks
meant to extend her child’s life— only to live long enough
for the onslaught of violence committed on that day
There will be pain each time she lays the quilt onto her body
her attempt to keep the essence of her child close to her skin
-against her face
She will breathe in her child’s breaths
the memory lingering in the fabric
and she will cry.
Jonathan’s poem cut me to the core. So well said, ” The problem is not the weaponry but the devil” and other excuses. And then Jennifer Alaniz Yañez speaking about the masks into a quilt, no tik tok dances and so much about a future that was stolen. God bless these powerful San Antonio voices that speak to the evil of killing our children and the blindness and deafness of politicians!
These are incredible and I thank you.