Angels

Ben Pedary 

shell casings 

   rest next to new angels

   where seashells

   might have nestled

   were it a holiday instead

shock symphonies on repeat

   still the outrage swell recedes

   to growing numbness

   repeat carnage

   a potent anesthesia

there is an absence

   in abused infants

   of recoil to stimuli

   and in us

   children of Columbine