NEVER AGAIN

is written in large black letters

on the t-shirt I am wearing

today…given to me

after the mass shooting

at a school in Florida. On

the front is a picture of 17 bullets

each sketched with a picture

of one of the 17 students

who was killed.

I have worn this shirt

to several futile marches

against gun violence

in favor of gun control.

And then I put it at the bottom of my dresser drawer.

Since that day we can count

119 school shootings…

In this country guns shoot

hundreds every day

kill more than 100 every day

people who wake up

expecting to go to work

hug their children

cut down

every day.

Why am I wearing this shirt

today? I refuse to live

without hope with constant

despair with the futility that

comes with giving up.

And so

never again

until tomorrow.