[twenty children. . .] and [war . . .]

twenty

children murdered

close to home

the dark of the moon

so clear tonight

Haiku News 2:4, 1/21/2013

war—

the children’s

red crayons

worn down

to nothing

Ribbons  8:3, winter 2012 

I post these poems today in honor of the three-month anniversary of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, not far from where I grew up. As a parent and grandparent, and as the mother of a survivor of gun violence, I often wonder about--and grieve for--the deep roots of violence of all kinds in human societies.