A Typical Saturday, a Poem by Chella Courington

In Memory of Edwin, Joseph, Kameron, Leilah, Mary, Raul, and Rodolfo.
 
 Sun scorches the West Texas desert.
  Air conditioners hum on high.
  At a local pool, sun-drenched arms rest on cobalt noodles.
 
  Some guy runs a stop sign and is pulled over.
  He steps out of his car and shoots.
  Kills a Texas Highway Patrolman just like that.
  Steps back in his Honda, his AR-15
  beside him, and speeds down I-20, still shooting.
 
  Twelve hundred miles away, it’s a typical Saturday afternoon.
  Then, with a soft ping, a news alert appears on my phone:
  Eight people killed in Odessa, Texas.
 
  One was at the car dealership with her family.
  One was standing in his parents’ front yard.
  One was waiting at a traffic light with his wife and two children.
  One was talking on the cell to her sister.
  One was driving home from work.
  One was a veteran of Afghanistan.
  One was from El Paso.
  The eighth one embraced the gun.

Chella Courington is a writer and teacher whose poetry and fiction appear in anthologies and journals including SmokeLong Quarterly and New World Writing. Her lyrical, flash novella, Adele and Tom: The Portrait of a Marriage (Breaking Rules Publishing), is featured at Vancouver Flash Fiction. A 2020 Pushcart and Best Small Fictions Nominee, Courington (she/her) lives in California.