Poem of the Week: Patricia Monaghan

         

Loaded

 

They were always taught that all guns were loaded.

It was a way, he said, to keep them safe.

Don't you notice, he said, how people get shot

by pistols they think are unloaded? The gun

on the living room shelf, the unhidden

luger, the rack full of rifles: the children

 

knew each one was death. Now children,

he'd ask, his hand on a gun, is this loaded?

Mute chorus of yes. Mute yearning to hide.

That was their home. At school they were safe

even when textbooks talked about guns

and described how the buffalo hunters would shoot

 

and buffalo crumple down dead, one shot

enough to bring down the biggest. No child

in that school had ever seen bison, gunned

down or living, seen meat being loaded

on travois by leather-clad scouts, safety

bolts on their guns; no child had worn hides

 

or rode on the plains. But in history hid

critical truths that they sought about shooting

and fear and escape. Learn and be safe,

history whispered its promise to children

like them, learn and be safe. But a loaded

gun holds only one promise. A gun,

 

any gun, threatens use of a gun

no matter how they tried to hide

in books, no matter how they loaded

themselves down with schoolwork. A shot

or two in the evening, then, children,

he'd say, don't think the world's safe,

 

then he'd tell how once he had saved

someone's life with that very gun

over there on the wall and then children,

he'd say, be prepared for the worst, never hide

from attackers, they all deserve shooting,

so all guns must always be loaded.

 

Even dreams weren't safe, for hiding

in them were guns, aimed, ready to shoot.

Even children know this: loading leads to unloading.

-Patricia Monaghan   

Used by permission.

From Homefront (WordTech, 2005) 

Patricia Monaghan (1946-2012) died on November 11, 2012 in her Wisconsin home, Brigit Rest, in the arms of her beloved husband Michael McDermott. Homefront is a collection about the effect of war on veterans' return to their families and the damage to both. Patricia was a poet, scholar, spiritual pioneer and practitioner, activist, gardener and endlessly energetic creator. 

Patricia co-founded the Black Earth Institute with Michael and recently co-founded the Association for the Study of Women and Mythology. The Institute is dedicated to artists serving the causes of inclusive spirituality, healing and protecting the earth and social justice. Patricia published over 20 books including many of poetry.  She was awarded a Pushcart Prize among many others. She was also an active supporter of Split This Rock.

  

Please feel free to forward Split This Rock Poem of the Week widely. We just ask you to include all of the information in this email, including this request. Thanks!

If you are interested in reading past poems of the week, feel free to visit the blog archive.