Shoot. Bomb. Kill. Pause.

Kathryn Jones

November 19, 2023

Shoot. Bomb. Kill. 

Shoot. Bomb. Kill. 

Pause the violence.

Hear the silence. 

Shoot. Bomb. Kill. 

Shoot. Bomb. Kill. 

Ceasefire hour.

Seize the power.

Shoot. Bomb. Kill.

Shoot. Bomb. Kill. 

Let in aid. 

Drop the grenade.

Shoot. Bomb. Kill. 

Shoot. Bomb. Kill. 

Pause for humanity.

Stop the insanity. 

Shoot. Bomb. Kill. 

Shoot. Bomb. Kill. 

Defeat, victory. 

Repeat history.

Shoot. Bomb. Kill. 

Shoot. Bomb. Kill. 

Pause is over.

Run for cover.

Kathryn Jones is a poet, journalist, and essayist whose work has been published in The New York Times, Texas Monthly, Texas Highways, and the Texas Observer. Her poetry has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies, including TexasPoetryAssignment.com, Unknotting the Line: The Poetry in Prose (Dos Gatos Press, 2023), Lone Star Poetry (Kallisto Gaia Press, 2023), and in an upcoming chapbook, An Orchid’s Guide to Life, to be published by Finishing Line Press. She was inducted into the Texas Institute of Letters in 2016 and lives on a ranch near Glen Rose, Texas.