Somebody cared enough to
mark the spot-
The spot where crumpled on the filthy walk,
he would have heard the Metra
dinging south -
in fading consciousness, a final toll
matter-of-factly echoing the shots.
She (surmising tearful friend, or mother)
or, sadder yet, a he- a little brother-
designed a tender, tawdry monument-
wilting lily and a small white bear
tied - eye level- to a metal fence-
the 2100 block near Dominicks.
How is it that one person’s youthful crime:
to tread on common ground fictively claimed
as purview of some other wary youths-
who look and act exactly like their foes-
should prescribe his brutal, public death?
The drive that pushed our species to survive,
no doubt supported once by reasoned choice:
to stand our tiny patch of sun-scorched earth
is self destructive in the world wide web.
Could we, in our integral self appraisal
accept the concept of a global face?
And that, perhaps, South Shore is like a
mirror
Reflecting facets of the human race.
We really are connected: ill or good,
world peace must issue from our neighborhood.
Chicago,
Mary Steenson
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