There is no room inside this room
-on arming educators against possible threat
There is little breath to load
in early school day
when we are packed 40-to-1
into chamber
where even our hellos, good mornings
are breathless and scattershot
in such close quarters
there is little room for breath
until we make it,
and we do, at start of every gather:
we sit, mostly still, mostly silent
one minute to return to our grateful breath
ground our time in presence
every day I close my eyes with them
trusting a room full of exuberant
teenagers to save me from the world
we have made for them
all I can ask of myself anymore
in this 40-to-1 chamber
close-quartered, is to show up
take deep breaths,
be kind, be present
love them, see them
listen
listen more
as they begin to reclaim
this lost horizon—theirs
in face of new language
I do not want to teach
lockdown trigger warning
active shooter indiscriminate
words sprayed across childhood’s
sawed-off surrender
what space is there here
that I have not yet secured
what armored chest
is still to be unlocked
let me turn to that work
instead
let that be how I am armed
everyday, intent on
disarming them with love
with space
with breath
with hope
By Hazel Kight Witham
A poem from Disarm: A Themed issue Responding to Mass Shootings in America
Biography:
Hazel Kight Witham is a writer, teacher, activist, and artist whose work can be found in Bellevue Literary Review, Rising Phoenix Review, Angels Flight, Zoetic Press’s NonBinary Review, Lunch Ticket and Lady/Liberty/Lit. As a proud public school teacher, she loves listening to young people and challenging them to think more critically and creatively about their place in the world they wish to live in.
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