Do Not Walk Gentle Into School

Do not walk gentle into Westport High.
A student says he wants to kill a teacher.
He has guns, he has a mind for shooting,

I work in this district, elementary.
I heard rumors. First name, David.
Do not go gentle into school today.

Our principal told us to check e-mail.
No known threat at this time, early dismissal.
David had guns, a mind for a mass shooting.

A student called his brother at UCONN.
His spring break shouldn’t be for a funeral.
He had always walked gently into school.

School doors should be open, not closed, not locked.
Recess should be a time for climbing, swinging and tag,
Not AR-15’s, assault weapons or minds for mass shootings.

We put our children on the bus each morning.
We wave goodbye. We put them in the hands
of their teachers. They go gentle into school
where he enters with a gun, a mind for shooting.

By Gina Forberg

A poem from Disarm: A Themed issue Responding to Mass Shootings in America

Biography:

Gina Forberg recently received her MFA from Manhattanville College. Her chapbook, “Leaving Normal” was published in 2017 from Finishing Line Press. Her work has appeared in numerous journals including Slant Magazine, The Mochila Review, Cactus Press and others. Her 2010 fellowship with The Connecticut Writers’ Project has led her to become a summer high school poetry workshop leader at Fairfield University. She currently teaches at Coleytown Elementary School and Kings Highway and lives with her family in Fairfield, Connecticut.