Childermas 2012

The schoolyard playground looks a frozen
graveyard whose cenotaph once was a green
sandbox Little Girl wiggled her toes in.

Vestibule photos put forth the notion
we all lived in a yellow submarine.
The holy water feels like it's frozen.

I said last spring, "She's poetry in motion.
Fourth of July, she'll likely be seen
skirting the ocean dipping her toes in."

Little Girl loved the boardwalk commotion.
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream
and waves that Daddy's big feet get lost in.

The priest says to pray that all souls repose in
Christ! Not the one with the magazine!
My nightmares still bleed calamine lotion.

"The Christmas toys were already chosen!"
I scream to the ghost of a killing machine
with a soul as cold as snow in a frozen
sandbox Little Girl wiggled her toes in.

In Memoriam
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting
December 14, 2012