Rachel Lynn McGuire

FOR NEWTOWN

find the candles. light them
find the pictures. bring them
find the flowers

all their favorite flowers
all the flowers in the world if
that's what it takes

and find the mothers
the crying mothers who just
want their babies back. hold them

find the blood in your own veins
see that it is red red human blood that
we all bleed

find the thump thump of your own heartbeat
and be grateful that today
was not the day you died


Rachel Lynn reads "For Newtown":



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Rachel Lynn confesses: "We, who were not the parents and teachers directly affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, could only do so much to show solidarity with and support for the victims and their families. This poem is an expression of what little I felt I could do at the time."

RACHEL LYNN MCGUIRE teaches math in Richmond, Virginia where she lives with her husband and daughter.