ZERO SILENCE

The moon at dawn is day’s zero
A clockface beginning its clicks
Turning invisible seconds to insistent minutes
Then hours circling round into years
Counted in casualty numbers that gain zeroes
While we witness it all
With our Oh!’s mouthed in shock

At night our survivalist fears zero in
On when we might be the next victim
Hints come lip-read in the voices
Of muted phone videos of the violence
Still our anguish leads us to zero actions
Except to calendar empty regrets…

Now time has lost its patience with us
There is no space for optimism
No room for restraint
The next sunrise must be our draft zero
Of a new American textbook
Stories of Full-Throated Courage

Circle this date
It begins here
After this—Zero Silence!

by Anne McCrady

NEWSLINKS: Japan Times, New York Times, VOX, Alternet, Scientific American

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