Dear Chicago, 2016
In the streets
500 dead by September 1st
Blood-stained cement cracks
Crimson asphalt
Shattered windows
Crack vials crushed underfoot
Child on a swing never makes it high
Girl on a date has her kiss stolen by a slug between the eyes
Bullets like silver rain, a thrush of metal hornets
Everyone ducking
With nothing to hold onto
If there is no anger
There is no hope
And next year will see new records
Only coffin companies the beneficiaries
Of such senseless slaughter
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TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif. (June 24, 2009) A large box of shell casings sits next to a large metal shredder at the Range Sustainment Branch at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Corporal Kelsey J. Green/Released)
pea river journal 
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