Ever since I was turned on to the work of the seminal poet D.H. Rumsfeld, I hoped I could one day assemble a chapbook of my own poems. Here is what I have so far:
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UMPQUA: A VALEDICTION, FORBIDDING BEING SHOT
As a doctor, I spent many a night
Pulling bullets out of bodies.
I would not just stand there and let him shoot me.
I would say, “Hey guys,
Everybody attack him. He may shoot me,
But he can’t get us all.”
This senseless violence is breathtaking.
But I never saw
A body with bullet holes
That was more devastating
Than taking
The right to arm ourselves away.
If everybody attacks that gunman,
He’s not going to be able
To kill everybody.
But if you sit there and
Let him shoot
You
One-by-one, you’re all going to be dead.
Maybe these are things that people don’t think about.
It’s certainly something that
I
Would be thinking about.
As a doctor, I spent many a night
Pulling bullets out of bodies.
that’s just a snippet of gifted hands’ daily cuckoo
you would think it absurdist performance art
but it is all earnest.
trust him, he’s a doc.