Point Blank

They're shooting
each other
here in Philadelphia
at the rate of
two or three or four per day
most of the guns
are illegally bought and sold
and traded
on the back streets
of every major city
in America

We are told that
there are
some 300 million guns
in private hands
one for every
man, woman and child
in the USA

And they are shooting
each other
almost every night
at point blank range
in the head
in the neck
in the back
in the face
in the groin
all the livelong day

Drugs and gangs
mental illness
poverty and despair
suicidal acting out
some wishing to die
at the hands of the police
(protect and serve)
or at the hands of
a drug king rival
contract hits
killings to silence witnesses
revenge shootings
domestic violence
you name it
we have them all

And given the fact that
Congress cannot
seem to muster the courage to
pass new gun control laws
(thanks in large part
to the incessant lobbying
of the NRA)
the national murder rate
continues to climb
and no one in America
is safe from
gun violence

So can I interest you
in a handy-dandy
saturday night special?
(for your own
self protection
of course)

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2013