John David Muth

ANOTHER SHOOTING

A man walks past a public school
black bag on his shoulder
combat boots clopping
children laugh on the playground.

He enters the building next door:
a financial management firm
drops his bag on the floor
pulls out an AR-15.

Security guards vault
over the reception desk
run to the back exits.
Minimum wage is not worth the sacrifice.

The gunman goes
from office to office
opening red holes
in white dress shirts
and dark gray suits.
Avocado wraps and bottles
of sparkling water
fall from manicured hands.

Computer screens displaying
elaborate Ponzi schemes
explode like lightning.

Amid the clatter
of empty rifle magazines
hitting the floor
voices from dropped cell phones
confirm transfers
into illegal tax shelters.

An executive vice-president
hides in a bathroom stall
perches on the toilet
like a vulture on a glacier
promising he will never again
embezzle retirement funds
if God will let him live.


Gerald So reads "Another Shooting":



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John confesses: "I sometimes find it hard to understand why insane gunmen go after children when there are far more worthy candidates in our society. Financial industry representatives often escape any real punishment for the lives they ruin. For fun, I threw a shark into a piranha tank."

JOHN DAVID MUTH was born and raised in central New Jersey. Currently he is an academic advisor working for Rutgers University. His poetry is usually sarcastic or satirical in nature. Occasionally, he inserts a little murder here and there.