Sometimes Images Are Not Needed by Joanie Fritz Zosike

Photo: Joanie Fritz Zosike 

Keep it simple, is best
Three syllable words
Tragedy, massacre,
Terrorize, platitude
The reddened circles
Beneath a child’s eyes
Make her forever old
Led by their teachers,
“Hand in hand,
“Eyes squeezed shut”
They walk into the woods
Try to scope out the secret
“It’s over now, though,”
Says the reporter, “Right?”
The little girl stares in
Disbelief, then, slowly: “Right”