When they showed the picture on the news
Of the kid who came to
Inhale…
Click-
Pop!
His way through painted hallways
Sticky floors and mismatched tiles
He didn’t look fourteen
Even though he was.

His father gave him the gun
When I was little
Smaller than fourteen
Daddy gave me a pair of slippers that looked like dinosaur feet

Those slippers made me feel bigger than I was
Which I guess is what the gun did to him
Make him feel
Bigger
I mean

But maybe a pair of slippers would’ve served him better
Because Daddy didn’t scare me when he gave me those

When they showed the picture on the news
Of the kid whose daddy told him to just
Inhale…

Click-

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

aim, pull, don’t stop

That heap of
Unblemished skin
Glazy eyes, afraid to see
That twitching, pulling finger
Bringer
Of so many fathers’ tears

Inhale…

I just couldn’t help but wonder
If he was once a little boy
With dinosaur feet.
When the dancers stood in rows I thought of desks, and one of the costumes reminded me of spikes on a dinosaur. It only takes one event for one's entire perception of the world to shatter.