Guns & Babies

Jeffrey L. Taylor

September 20, 2022

The neighbor’s truck

demands “Back Off,”

sports an AR-15 silhouette,

announces “Baby on Board,”

all in the same shade of red.

I wonder if the gun

is his baby.

This state’s laws

love guns more than babies.

My state taxes support this.

My state government and I

are moving in opposing directions.

Jeffrey L. Taylor retired in 2001 after 40 years as a Software Engineer. Around 1990, poems started holding his sleep hostage, unexpected for someone who did poorly in English classes. He has been published in di-vêrsé-city, Texas Poetry Calendar, Tejascovido, the Langdon Review of the Arts in Texas, and Texas Poetry Assignment.