Wheel of Fortune

Ace of Guns

I don't think the cards ever lie---perhaps we misintrepret.

I pulled from my POMO TAROT deck today----the cards are all illustrated with artwork from the Museum of Modern Art.

Today---the day after the shooting at Virginia Tech---I pull the Ace of Guns---an anthropomorphized pistol gnashing its tiny teeth---pointing out to the world. The Ace of Guns-----the crazed lone gunman who can alter history and destiny with a single blast.

Hold your loved ones close---the world isn't always safe.

Did this alienated, crazed, 19-year-old have no one who could have helped--to have softened his heart, to have taught him the value of a human life---including his own?


Poet Nikki Giovanni teaches at Virginia Tech---just a random poem of hers...

The World Is Not A Pleasant Place To Be


the world is not a pleasant place
to be without
someone to hold and be held by

a river would stop
its flow if only
a stream were there
to receive it

an ocean would never laugh
if clouds weren't there
to kiss her tears

the world is not
a pleasant place to be without
someone





The following poem is mine

for Virginia Tech

we must go beyond what we know
to the danger zone
we already know what to bring to the wailing wall
hot-house flowers
stuffed bears
the candles
shouldn't we leave instead
old clothing
loved books
something they were known and prized by...

a crazed gunman
smells spring
hits bottom and breaks
there is no one to catch him
we must go beyond what we know
we already know what to bring to the wall

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