Uvalde

a poem

Image by sboz from Pixabay

if you rearrange the letters in Uvalde
you get the word valued

which somehow makes your heart break even more
(if that is possible)
because how can it be possible that the lives of

alexandria and alithia and amerie and annabell and
eliahana and ellie and eva and irma and
jackie and jailah and jayce and jose and
layla and maite and makenna and miranda and
nevaeh and rogelio and tess and
uziyah and xavier and

your child and my child
and her child and his child and their child
and those gone before and those that will surely come after

have less value than the money used
to buy guns and elected officials
who offer thoughts and prayers
of no value