A Love that a Gunman Has for a Gun

Paola Brinkley

June 1, 2022

I hope Americans can love their children

as much as they love their guns

for they don’t send their guns 

to schools that are underfunded and unprotected.

I hope Americans can defend their children 

as much as their right to bear arms,

from the crumbling foster care system,

that forces children to sleep in CPS offices, waiting endlessly for placements,

that leaves children susceptible to physical and sexual abuse

and abandons them on the streets with a life forced into crime,

and from the national shortage of baby formula,

that forces mothers to water down formula

for just long enough for the next paycheck,

for just long enough for the next shipment at the grocery store.

I hope Americans can vouch for their children’s mental health

Like they vouch that guns are not the problem,

To support children when they are bullied in school,

To believe a child’s feelings of depression and anxiety,

To understand that these children are not asking for attention,

But asking for your help in this mental health crisis.

I hope Americans can clutch their children at night,

To read them bedtime stories, 

To kiss them on the cheek,

To hug them tightly as they drift off to sleep,

As tightly as we grip our AR-15 rifles.

For a love a gunman has for his gun

Cannot rival a love for a child.

Paola Brinkley is a graduate assistant at Lamar University. She teaches Composition I and Integrated Reading and Writing and tutors at the Writing Center. Paola will graduate in December 2022 with her M.A in English.