Flower Heads Torn

The following is a community-created poem started on my Facebook page regarding the most recent massacre of innocent children at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The contributors are from all over the country, one from London. We hope you will share it.

We are writers, poets, teachers, mothers, fathers.

The invitation from Linda Drattell’s Facebook post:

The news has been devastating. How do we cope with mass shootings? Our community writing a poem together, where each of us adds a line, might be helpful. It doesn’t solve anything, just helps us cope. Maybe someone in power will eventually read it and be moved by it.

Flower Heads Torn

Flower heads torn, young leaves shorn – _{Linda Drattell}

Blood on the floor, shock at the door – _{Rachel Zemach}

Only thing left is families who mourn – _{Evelyn Marie Ruhlman}

While we cling to hope that things will change – _{Edgar Palmer}

The madness goes on and on out of rage – _{Lisa Harbour}

Lives stolen, hearts broken – _{Julie Rems Smario}

Rage hollered, grief unspoken – _{Rachel Zemach}

Thoughts and prayers looked upon as tokens – _{John Garvey}

Guns win, no change through the commotion – _{Lisa Harbour}

Hearts bleeding, children weeping, life forever changed – _{Cynthia Moynihan}

Mental health now the sole blame – _{Cynthia Moynihan}

Political invasion, lost equation – _{Cynthia Moynihan}

Smoke screen evasion as guns reign – _{Cynthia Moynihan}

Children’s fears in the classroom – _{Eunhee Soh}

Haunt me as guns destroy freedom – _{Eunhee Soh}

So horribly unnecessary – _{Helen Schreibman-Smith}

Police simply emissaries – _{Linda Drattell}

Of bad news – _{Linda Drattell}

What’s America coming to? – _{Helen Schreibman-Smith}

Could be your child, your neighbor’s, your niece – _{Rachel Zemach}

With gun laws let’s end the unbelievable grief – _{Rachel Zemach}

Action, not thoughts and prayers, brings permanent relief – _{Marilyn Dykstra}

Need policy change to end gun violence – _{Marsha Kopp}

Not silence, not silence – Linda Drattell

Hearts are shattered and families mourn – _{Linda Moore Marple}

Laid to rest, so recently born – _{Linda Drattell}

This community poem was created from submissions by: Linda Drattell, Rachel Zemach, Evelyn Marie Ruhlman, Edgar Palmer, Lisa Harbour, Julie Rems Smario, John Garvey, Cynthia Moynihan, Eunhee Soh, Helen Schreibman-Smith, Marilyn Dykstra, Marsha Kopp, and Linda Moore Marple.