Boy With Gun

First a sparrow and a
small coppery sphere.
Sometimes momentary shame
loses to the power
to make things fall.

He grows in the romance
of velocity and range
this boy a question
and this gun the answer.

We know nothing
of who or what
he may target
or in the name
of who or what.

We do know he
believes he knows
a truth he
will soon reveal

this boy with
no more questions
and this gun
with all the answers.

 

 

Harley Elliott lives in Salina, Kansas. He is the author of ten books of poetry, including Darkness at Each Elbow and Animals that Stand in Dreams (Hanging Loose Press), The Monkey of Mulberry Pass and Fugitive Histories (Woodley Press), and a memoir, Loading the Stone (Woodley Press).