Incomprehensible

Poem written on 1/24/2023 in response to the shooting in Half Moon Bay on 1/23/2023

Incomprehensible

The word

stutters

and twists

finding its path difficult

just getting out of the mouth

because it is hard to fathom

impossible to comprehend

I don’t understand

the guns

the violence

the anger or hate in hearts

that twists the world

and allows

such carnage

such grief

the loss of life

is not just the living

gone, no longer

dreams evaporated

laughter and smiles no more

but the family, the friends

the community that surrounds

a hole now

in the ground

where seven bodies will lie

in hearts

where loss

will etch

the rest of their lives

forever

indelible

incomprehensible

and yet

becoming commonplace

they say

this year alone only 24 days

there have been more mass shootings

than days

incomprehensible

and the guns

they are still bought

sold

profits

metal clanking on metal

mass produced

can we not imagine

another way

loving, kindness

tools of a trade

musical instruments

created from scraps

of war

of vioence

let us remake our world

and soon

because incomprehensible is being repeated

day after day

and more and more

are having to comprehend

the incomprehensible

fathom

the unfathomable

and grieve with

broken hearts

again and again

incomprehensible.