She Will Have Sunflowers

Kathryn Merry

June 21, 2022

She will have sunflowers

They were her favorite

And you will have the right to buy an AR15

She will have sunflowers

And die at 9 at the hands of

A boy who hunted her down a hallway

In her American public school

Past her crayon-colored drawing

Of the American flag

She will have sunflowers

And you will have the right to bear arms

At the price of her mother’s arms, bare

Is this what we are fighting for?

She will have sunflowers

And be buried by her community on Memorial Day

In a child-sized casket shipped in from

Another city because Uvalde did not have enough

Did not have enough

She will have sunflowers

Laid all over it, her favorite,

What she would have wanted, what she would have wanted

Was to live

What she would have wanted

Was gun control

Can that be what she is buried with instead

the votes to make it law etched as hashmarks on her gravehead

She will have sunflowers

And you can have an AR15

This is the American dream

Mothers close their eyes and scream

Mothers, close your eyes and scream

Kathryn Merry was born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and spent most of her adult life as an actress based in New York. She is currently living and writing in North Texas with her young family and rascal dog Ralph. Her poetry was featured in Soul Art Renewal by the Greater Denton Arts Council and published by the Denton Poets Assembly in When Poets Meet Poets: A Read and Respond Anthology.