Haverhill native and poet Raymond F. Comeau, reflecting recently on 656 mass shootings last year, laments the growth in gun violence in his latest poem, “Bodies in our Times.”
Now of Belmont, Comeau is a retired dean and current lecturer at Harvard University Extension School. He is also a trustee, emeritus, of the John Greenleaf Whittier Birthplace in Haverhill.
Bodies In Our Times
Every epoch has its bodies
And painters shaping a name
Like Botticelli
Whose bodies helped fashion the Renaissance
And David
Who gave Napoleon’s a noble look
But it’s noticeable
That our bodies have bullet wounds
Especially in crowded spaces
Like schoolrooms and malls
Cinemas and concert spots
Where journalists these days anticipate
AR-15s
And screaming bodies falling in mounds
Do you remember Guernica
Picasso’s painting of rabid war
Not too far from our favorite films
(Like paintings in our times)
Whose tantalizing bullet-sprayed scenes
Are as American as credit card debt
© Raymond Comeau January 2023