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21ST-CENTURY POETRY From the Office of the National Rifle Association by Mark Slattery

Please feel safe when the sirens sound. No pistol wound or penetration
Emanated from the office of the National Rifle Association.
While lying in your gathering blood, you may take added consolation
No sure-shot sniper was sanctioned by the National Rifle Association.
Tourists, Democrats, Republicans, as they travel to their destination
Will understand they were not despatched by the National Rifle Association.
Please do not direct complaint about any surgical complication,
Resulting from your gunshot wounds, to the National Rifle Association.
Each person downed is a tragedy, every corpse and body mutilation;
None of these bear marks or scars from the National Rifle Association.
Scant space a headstone leaves, for those mourning in a congregation,
To give due credit or mention for the National Rifle Association.
No family despairing in their grief, offering heavenly supplication
Would aim even a modest curse at the National Rifle Association.
Any young man might find himself with a reasonable infatuation
For the sound of automatic fire, and the National Rifle Association.
The number of spent ammo shells sufficient for a celebration
Has yet to be established by the National Rifle Association.
No blame must attach to them; it’s fake news, by implication,
That any causal link be found with the National Rifle Association.
Critics! You’ll eventually retire of firing off this allegation.
And there’s always moral ammunition left at the National Rifle Association.
Bear your arms, re-load right now! Join a Presidential delegation?
Renew your annual subscription to the National Rifle Association.

Mark Slattery has written for various newspapers and magazines. He lives near Watford with four cats. 21st-century Poetry is edited by Andy Croft, email [email protected]

 

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