☀ Today's Poem: "Violence" Adele Elise Williams

I have already said Gun three times
today like this Gun Gun Gun I wrote
an essay on it just this week — on
the saying of Gun and things of pain
the essay talks about a gun dance
between my boyfriend and a gang
kid it talks about my no teeth I had no
front teeth until I was eighteen I didn't
kiss a boy until then either — because
of the no teeth — and it was a slippery
slope down to fucking the essay also
talks about my uncle who overdosed
while I was in rehab but it doesn't say
enough because I don't know enough
I just know that my mom had tucked me
into rehab like a fever dream and only
a few days later she tucked her brother
into something darker and forever
she called and told me he was dead
she said dead like Dead Dead Dead
but it was quieter than that the essay
too talks about my dog who is falling to
pieces — teeth, tags, and toes —
all not right and so thin so they break
or tear like an orange she is only
a dog but she knows my soul in the essay
I forgot to talk about my nana and how
whenever we flew her out of New Orleans
she had no airport etiquette she putzed
around and joked Bomb Bomb Bomb
and wouldn't stay seated I forgot to tell
about when I shot a musket at a pumpkin
or when I took a hard fist hit and got
two black eyes together all at once
or when Laura shot herself in the face
in the school bathroom during lunch
and I was at my locker and I heard the
crack and I went to the bathroom and
I opened the door and everything was

r e
d red red red red red red red red red red red red red red
red red
red red red red red red red red red red red red red red red
red red r
red. red e
red red d
red red
red red red