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Your Gun
Your gun
will not change the necessity of masks and gloves,
or make anyone want to stand closer to you again,
or cut your hair, or buy you a drink at the bar,
or serve you a meal in a restaurant,
or bag your groceries in any store.
Your gun
does not make you a patriot, and taking it into the statehouse
is still sedition, when there is no army at your back.
Your gun
will not save you
no matter how much you wave it around
or point it at others
or clutch it to your bosom
or use it to intimidate government officials trying
to save the rest of us.
Your gun
is—No, that one’s too easy, too obvious.
Never mind. Let’s just say
Your gun
does not make you a man, or even a grown up.
Your gun
will not bring back your children, or your wife,
or your job, or your home, or a meaningful life,
or give you any dignity in the eyes of beholders
or earn you a slot in either the Army or the cops.
Your gun
is powerless against this virus
but feel free to shoot as many holes in yourself as you’d like,
to test the theory.
‒May 12, 2020, Brooklyn
©Lee Kottner 2020
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